Rogar's Story
by Buck Wiley
Summary: This is the story of a Paladin named Rogar. With help from his guild, the Strike Fighters, they enter the ruined city of Dire Maul to recover stolen artifacts. But they are followed by Rogar's brother, Buckalter, who is bent on revenge.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1– Rumble in the Barrens

Getting past the Crossroads guards had been the easy part. Orcs fight a lot like a tavern drunkard – sloppy and uncoordinated. Traveling through the Barrens was more of a nuisance than a danger. But it was the fastest way to get from Booty Bay back to Darnassus. Rogar figured as soon as he reached Astraanar he could ride a hippogryph the rest of the way.

That was the plan anyway. But things never go according to plan, do they? Rogar spurred his horse to run faster, hoping he would make it to the Night Elf capitol without any further distractions. And that's when it happened.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of steel and the harsh glow of spell fire. He pulled back on the reigns of his horse and slowed to catch a glimpse of the fight. He saw what appeared to be a mage holding off a group of Horde attackers, but it was pretty clear she wasn't going to be able to do so much longer. Rogar could sense that her mana was running low, and her attackers didn't show any signs of letting up. There were four of them that Rogar could count. He leaned his horse in the direction of the fight. The horse whinnied a small grunt of protest. "I know, girl. I promised you a warm stable and some oats. But that's just gonna have to wait."

The horse responded and charged toward the battle. As they drew closer Rogar took a better look at the situation. The attackers appeared to be warriors - two Orcs and a Troll from what he could see. He also noticed totems on the ground around them, and shifted his attention to a Tauren standing in back of the group. A shaman. Fantastic.

Rogar steered his horse toward the Tauren and came around behind him, hoping to catch him off guard. He was close enough to the fight now to hear the grunts and groans of the warriors and to smell the stench of the Orcs. Leaping from his horse he drew his sword and swung a wide arc at the shaman, catching him unprepared. The blow struck the Tauren flat across the side of the head, stunning him and interrupting the spell he was casting. Rogar mumbled a small prayer of healing and the Mage's life began to replenish.

The warriors took note of this new participant in the fight and broke off to assist their shaman. That was the opening the Mage needed. She incanted her next spell and a burst of fire engulfed the group of warriors in magical flame. Rogar wasn't sure which smelled worse, the Orcs or the burning flesh. Frankly, the combination of the two made him want to vomit.

Rogar mumbled another prayer and a bolt of holy lightning shot through the body of the shaman. Dazed for only a second, the Tauren waved his hoof and Rogar felt a sickness creep through his body. The poison took hold and began to sap the life out of his bones. Rogar tried to run to a better position to flank the Shaman, but a totem nearby was slowing his movement as if he were trying to run through waist deep mud. Rogar collected himself for a second and called out another prayer, this time cleansing the poison from his system.

Out of mana, the Mage shot another ball of fire at the Shaman from her wand, hoping to distract his attention from Rogar. As the Shaman turned to cast another spell at the Mage, Rogar plunged his blade deep into the Tauren's flank. Blood washed over the hilt of his sword, and the weight of the huge beast slumped forward, dead. Rogar pulled his blade from the carcass and smashed the totem that was slowing his movement. He looked around for a patch of plains grass to clean off his sword.

"You didn't have to rescue me." The Mage said with an irritated tone to her voice, "I was in control of that fight the whole time."

"I think the words you're looking for are Thank You" replied Rogar. His frustration was building, partly because of the Mage's attitude, and partly because he couldn't find anything to clean his sword with. He tore off a small, clean section of the Shaman's robe and began wiping the blood from his sword and armor.

"Well, yes. I suppose some Thanks are in order." The Mage conceded. "My name is Lien. And what is yours, paladin?"

"LOOK OUT!" Rogar cried as he pointed behind Lien. But it was too late. An Undead rogue had slipped out of his hidden position and plunged his daggers deep into the small of her back. She slumped over stunned as the rogue drew his blades back again and jabbed more wounds into the Mage. Before Rogar could even recite the words to his healing prayer Lien dropped to the ground, dead.

"Alright you Bastard, you got the jump on her. But now you have get through me!" Rogar took a huge swing at the rogue but before the blade could strike true the rogue vanished. Rogar spun around, guessing that the rogue would attempt to backstab him. Rogar repositioned himself just in time to catch the rogue slipping out of his stealth. He parried the rogue's attack and countered by bashing him across the face with the hilt of his sword.

Dazed, the rogue took a few steps back to regroup. Rogar reached for a potion from his belt pouch to restore some of his mana. The rogue took advantage of the break in the attack and sprang on the paladin. The attacks were fast and furious. Rogar tried his best to parry what he could, but the rogue's blades were a blur of steel and poison. Rogar could feel them piercing through the small spaces between his plate armor, finding the soft, fleshy parts like a thousand deadly bee stings. Already he could feel the poison from the rogue's daggers coursing through his veins, and he began to slump over as his muscles gave out.

As he was about to lose consciousness Rogar thought he heard a loud shot, and the stinging of the rogue's daggers stopped. Rogar looked up at the rogue who was now dazed and staggering. Suddenly a giant, black bear paw came swinging out of nowhere and crushed the side of the rogue's face. Rogar mustered what strength he had left and prayed for a wave of healing. As the prayer was answered he could feel the life pouring back into his body. He mumbled another prayer to rid his body of the rogue's poisons.

As Rogar healed himself the bear continued to tear into the rogue like a child's toy. The rogue was defenseless against the massive strength and size of the bear. More shots were fired, and the rogue's body recoiled from the force of the bullets. In one final motion the bear tore open the rogue's throat, separating his head from his body. The fight was over and the rogue lay dead on the dusty ground.

Fully healed, Rogar walked up to the enormous bear and playfully scratched him behind the ears. "Good Boy, Ivan. That's a good boy!" The bear licked Rogar's face leaving large trails of drool on the Paladin's armor.

"So… at what point were ye gonna get off yer arse and fight that Bastard?" A burly dwarf walked up to Rogar and slapped him on the back. "Just add this to the list o' times I've saved yer miserable hide!"

"Hey Loderr," Rogar sighed. "I'm glad you guys showed up when you did."

"Aye. From the looks of things, I'd say it was just in the nick o' time!"

"That rogue had me for sure. One minute he was right in front of me, the next he vanished into thin air. I tell you Loderr, I'm losing it in my old age."

The Dwarf scoffed at the notion. "Eh, we all get caught unawares from time to time. Bloody rogues are a sneaky lot anyway. I don't trust 'em."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here." Rogar said. "You headed to Darnassus to hook up with Shiner and the others?"

"Aye. But uh… what do ya plan to do about that?" Loderr pointed at the corpse of the Mage lying next to the decapitated body of the Rogue.

"By Uther, I almost forgot!" Rogar knelt over Lien's body and lowered his head in a prayer. Brilliant yellow light swirled around him and finally focused onto the corpse. The light formed into a bright white pillar and shot to the heavens. Left standing in its place was Lien, still wounded, but alive.

"What happened?" Lien asked, disoriented from the resurrection.

"That." Said Loderr, pointing to the corpse of the Rogue.

"Who are you?" she asked

"The name's Loderr. And this here pile o' fur and fury be Ivan." The bear stood back on his hind legs and let out a huge roar that oddly enough sounded halfway friendly.

"And my name's Rogar. Sorry about letting you die like that. I should have known there would be a Rogue hiding around somewhere. How did you get jumped by that many Horde in the first place?"

"I was on my way to Feralas when I saw the warriors patrolling the road. I started to attack and I had the advantage. But then the shaman rode up on his kodo and began healing them all. I tried to blast the whole group, but every time I got them close to death the shaman healed them right back. My mana was getting low, and well, then you showed up. I have no idea where the rogue came from."

"Aye. Sounds like a good thing that we all showed up, eh Rogar?" Loderr shot a sly grin at the Paladin.

"Indeed." Rogar sighed beneath his breath. He knew the Dwarf wasn't going to let him hear the last of this any time soon. "Well, you're welcome to travel to Feralas with Loderr and me. We're meeting up with some of our guild mates in Darnassus first, and then we're headed to Feathermoon Village from there."

"Why are you going to Feralas? You wouldn't happen to be going to…"

"Dire Maul?" Loderr finished her sentence.

"Yeah."

"Well I hope you weren't plannin' to go to Dire Maul all by yer lonesome there, Missy. That place is death on a stick, I tell ye! If you were havin' a bit o' trouble with the lot of these Orcs, the Ogres at the entrance to Dire Maul would be skinnin' yer liver before ye took three steps into the place."

"Well I had planned on looking for some help once I reached Feathermoon." Lien shot a slightly annoyed look at the Dwarf. "I guess it would be good to travel with you. Thank you for the invitation."

"Not a problem." Rogar said. "It's the least we can do considering the situation and all. We should mount up and get moving. We're burning daylight."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Trouble in Astranaar

The trio continued north through the Barrens to the edge of Ashenvale. The area was still controlled by the Horde, who had built a well-fortified outpost along the road. The adventurers decided they'd had enough fighting for one day and chose to take a detour through the hills to the east. Soon enough they were back on the path and headed for the Elven town of Astranaar.

As they crossed a small bridge leading into the east side of the town they could sense that something was not right. There were no Sentinels waiting to greet them along the road. They didn't see any other adventurers milling about the paths and buildings. An uneasy quiet hung over the town like a fog. Ivan let out a slow, guttural growl and coiled back on his haunches, ready to pounce.

"Easy there, boy." Loderr reassured him, "Go easy."

"Ivan's right." Rogar said, his voice almost a whisper, "Something's wrong here. The sooner we catch a hippogryph out of here the better."

They continued across town until they came to the hippogryph master - or at least the spot where she should have been. But much to their dismay, she and all the hippogryphs were gone as well.

"What's going on here?" Lien asked. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know, but I don't like this one bit!" Loderr said, "I say we just keep on moving 'till we get to Darkshore."

"Let's check the inn." Rogar drew his sword and made his way toward the building across the street. Lien and Loderr followed reluctantly behind. When they reached the inn it was more of the same. Not a soul in sight. It looked as if everyone had decided to pack up and move on. A faint voice came calling from up the stairs in the main hall of the inn. Rogar ran up to investigate. Loderr pulled out his rifle and cocked the hammer.

"I'll be damned if I'm gonna follow that fool Paladin to my death today!"

Lien didn't say a word, but she didn't follow Rogar either.

When he reached the top of the stairs Rogar found the innkeeper. She was lying on the floor, badly wounded and half unconscious. Rogar knelt down next to her. "What happened here? Where is everyone?"

"It's… a… It's… a…" The innkeeper gasped for breath between words.

"A what? It's a what?!?" Rogar began to recite a prayer, hoping to heal the innkeeper and get some answers.

"TRAP!!!" Lien screamed, finishing the innkeeper's sentence. A group of Horde, at least ten strong, started pouring in the doors of the Inn. Rogar lost concentration on his prayer and looked down the stairs to see Loderr and Lien surrounded. He cursed himself for not anticipating this obvious trap. He rose to his feet, drew his sword and jumped down the stairs into the fight.

"I told ye we shoulda kept movin'!" Loderr yelled over the noise of the fight. He fired off a shot from his rifle, hitting an Orc square between the eyes and dropping it dead in its tracks. "Fool Paladin!"

Lien called out the words to a spell, and instantly a wave of ice shot out from her body in all directions. The attackers found themselves frozen to the ground and unable to move. "Quick," she cried, "get out of the inn!"

They ran out into the streets, but the situation there wasn't much better. Another fifteen to twenty Horde were waiting outside the inn to block their escape. "This is going to get ugly." Rogar sighed.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Loderr shrugged. "Get 'em Ivan!"

The bear charged into the crowd of Horde attackers as Loderr fired shots from his rifle. He used an old Dwarven trick to fire multiple slugs at the same time, trying to take out as many attackers as possible. Rogar called out a prayer and a faint, oval glow surrounded his body. He ran into the middle of a group of Orcs and swung a wide arc with his sword, striking as many as he could. The Orcs swung back at him, but the glowing orb around Rogar absorbed all their blows. A group of three Undead mages in the back of the fight noticed Rogar and began shooting blots of fire at him. But the holy shield around his body absorbed their spells as well.

"This shield won't hang on for much longer, you guys need to get out of here while you still can!" Rogar screamed back at Loderr. "Go! Get to Darnassus and get the others!"

"I'm not gonna leave ye to die at the hands o' these filthy mongrels!" Loderr yelled. "I'll see ye in Hell ye Bastards!" He fired off more shots from his rifle.

Lien called out another spell, this time unleashing a huge explosion in the middle of the group that Rogar was fighting. The Orcs screamed as fire engulfed them. Many of them fell dead on the spot, and those that didn't fled for cover or dropped to the ground in a vain attempt to douse the flames on their charred bodies.

The battle waged on for what seemed to Rogar like hours. Just as it looked as if the tide of the fight might be turning their way, another wave of Horde reinforcements came pouring into the city. "They're like cockroaches!" Loderr spat, "They just don't stop comin'!"

"I'm telling you, Loderr, get out of here!" Rogar urged him. He was covered in blood, only half of which was his own. "One of us has to make it to Darnassus and get the others. We're all going to die if we stand and fight."

The Dwarf hesitated and let out a long grumble. "I don't like this, Man! I don't like it one bit!"

"It has to be this way. We shall meet again my friend."

"Revenge shall be yours, good paladin." Loderr turned from the fight and ran for the road. A Tauren turned to go after him, but Rogar called out a prayer and stunned the Tauren in his tracks. It was just enough time for Loderr to slip past the Horde lines and run down the path to Darkshore as fast as his little legs could carry him. He looked back and saw Lien's body lying on the ground next to Ivan's corpse. The last thing he saw was Rogar desperately calling out a prayer to heal himself, but the words never finished. A dozen or more attackers poured over the Paladin in a wave, killing him.

Once he was clear from the battle and sure he hadn't been followed, Loderr stopped for a moment to collect himself. His heartbeat felt like the pounding of a blacksmith's hammer on the Great Anvil. He sat down on a fallen tree beside the path and took out a water skin. He rummaged through his pack for something to eat, but all he found was some jerky he had been keeping for Ivan.

Ivan.

Loderr's mind returned to the picture of his dead pet lying next to Lien and the Dwarf's blood began to boil. For a moment he almost grabbed his axe and his rifle and marched back up the path to Astranaar for some payback. But he knew that was pointless now. The battle was over. His friends and his beloved bear were dead. The only way he could save them now was to get to Darnassus and find the others. With the backing of the guild they would crush those damn Hordies like the bugs that they are!

Loderr finished his water and summoned his ram. He mounted up and headed down the path toward Darkshore and Auberdine.

* * * * *

This wasn't the first time Rogar had been in the Spirit World. Actually, he'd been here quite often early on in his adventures. But it was not a place he was accustomed to lately. He hadn't remembered how cold and gray everything was. The world looked whitewashed from this dimension. The wind whipped around his face, and the cold numbed his Spirit, yet he felt no pain. Being dead did have its advantages.

He thought for a moment what he should do. If he ran back to find his body it would probably be surrounded by the Horde. He could ask the Spirit Healer in the graveyard to resurrect him. But that would take a heavy toll on his body, leaving him sick and weakened for days. He didn't have that kind of time.

Worse yet, the Horde could be destroying his remains right now, while he sat in this graveyard waiting for a resurrection that would never come. Had Loderr managed to get away? Rogar was pretty sure that he did. The last thing he remembered seeing was the Dwarf running down the path… and the blade of the Orc that came slicing through his skull. Rogar was still amazed that he actually got Loderr to flee. Getting a Dwarf to run away from a fight is almost as hard as getting the stench out of an Orc – which is to say, it's damn near impossible.

Finally Rogar decided to make his way back to Astranaar and see if he could recover his body. The chances were slim, but at least he could keep an eye out until help arrived - if help arrived. He suddenly wondered what Lien was doing. He wondered if she had headed back to the town. He took a quick look around the graveyard and didn't see her anywhere. Maybe she had already headed back. What if she recovered her body and was surrounded by the Horde again? That sealed it. Rogar ran for Astranaar.

One of the unfortunate side effects of being in the Spirit World is that you cannot interact with the living. You cannot talk to them, touch them, or even see them. So as Rogar walked down the middle of town in Astranaar he saw no one. It felt eerily like when he, Loderr and Lien originally came into the town. He had no idea if the Horde was still under control of the elf town or if they had gotten bored and left. The buildings still looked intact, so at least they hadn't sacked the town yet. He looked around for any other spirits hoping he wasn't the only victim waiting to recover his corpse from the Horde ambush, but he saw none.

As he approached the site of their battle he saw Lien's spirit. She was standing over her body, but hadn't recovered yet. As she saw Rogar's spirit she moved toward him. They couldn't talk, but they could share thoughts.

"Should we recover?"

"I don't think so." Rogar answered back. "Not yet anyway. Let's give Loderr some time and see if he comes back with help."

"I think I can recover my corpse from that cluster of tress over there. If I did the Horde probably wouldn't be able to see me."

"For all you know, the Horde is hiding in that cluster of trees, waiting for the next poor sucker to wander into town. It's your call, but I'd highly recommend against it."

"You're probably right." Lien walked back next to her body and sat down looking very sad. Rogar couldn't help but feel responsible. This was the second time in one day that he'd let this poor girl die on his watch. The paladin wasn't used to that. Uther would not bless him for his efforts today. Rogar sat down and waited.

* * * * *

"Something's not right. They should have been here by now." The tiny gnome paced the floor of the inn, looking at the door at least ten times a minute. At first glance she didn't appear like much. The big, bright green ponytails coming off the side of her head looked more like something that belonged on a schoolgirl instead of a deadly assassin. But a closer look by a trained eye would notice the razor sharp daggers hanging from her belt. But what even the most trained of eyes couldn't detect was the deadly poison lacing those blades. Make no mistake - this was not a Gnome to be messed with.

"Relaxsh, Shiner." said a man sitting at one of the tables near the bar. "Have another ale and take it eashy for a change! It'sh Rogar for cryin' out loud. He'sh a Pally. You couldn't kill a paladin with a Dwarven Tank and an army of Ogersh."

"Jaye, you're drunk. Shut up, and sober up."

"Oh Hell, Shiner. You're no fun!" The Warrior stood up and practically fell over himself. He spilled his tankard of ale all over a robed man sitting next to him.

"Damnit, Jaye! If you can't hold your booze then take it somewhere else!"

"Shorry, Kryme. My bad." Jaye stumbled to the innkeeper at the other side of the room to get another tankard of ale to replace the one he spilled. The robed man, Kryme, a priest, tried to clean the ale from his stained robe.

Shiner stopped pacing the floor as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs to the inn. She turned toward the door and sighed as she saw the woman walking in. "Still no sign of them yet, Rose?" Shiner asked.

"Not yet." The woman, a renegade paladin known as Rosefire, walked into the inn and sat down at the table. She took her sword off her back and propped it on the side of the table. "Looks like Jaye's been at it again…" She wiped the ale off the table and reached for a mug.

"Yeah, I wish Rogar and Loderr would get here already so we could be on our way. If we stay here any longer Jaye's going to pass out completely."

"Hey!" the drunken warrior called from the other side of the inn, "I reshemble that remark!"

Suddenly a Dwarf came running up the stairs and into the inn. It was Loderr.

"Loderr, where the Hell have you been? Where's Rogar?"

"Dead. He's Dead." Loderr huffed and puffed, trying to catch his breath between words. "Ivan's Dead. The mage is Dead."

"The mage?" Rosefire jumped up from the table, spilling her ale all over Kryme. "Shauna's dead?"

"Hey! Watch the robes!" Kryme shook the ale off his clothes in disgust. "This is Mooncloth for cryin' out loud!"

"No, not Shuana." The Dwarf answered. "Her name's Lien. We ran into the lass on the Gold Road in the Barrens. She was travelin' with us when we got jumped in Astranaar."

"Astranaar?" Shiner asked, "That's an Elf town. How they Hell did they die in Astranaar?"

"Aye, it might have been an Elf town. But the Damn Horde's got control of it now. Ye can't walk five feet in that place without trippin' over an Orc or a Troll. The place is completely wiped out. We stopped there to catch a hippogryph ride and the place was empty. A total ghost town. But the Horde was all hidden. It was a bloody ambush. They jumped us 'afore we knew what was comin'. We put up a good fight, we did. But there were just too many. Rogar stayed behind an held 'em off. Told me to come here an get you guys. We gotta go back an find their bodies."

Rosefire and Shiner looked at each other in amazement. If Rogar had actually convinced Loderr to flee from the fight then the situation had to be serious.

"Well, if there's as many Horde there as you say, we're going to need some help. Rose, send a message to Shauna and tell her to bring the others. Tell them there's a change in plan. We're meeting at Astranaar."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Payback Time

Rogar sat next to his corpse in the Spirit World for what seemed like an eternity. Another side effect of this dimension was that time lost all meaning. Five minutes could seem like five years. Five hours could seem like a lifetime. There really was no way for him to judge how long it had been since he sent Loderr off for help.

His body was still lying in the spot where he was killed. That was a good sign, he thought. Lien was still sitting next to her corpse. She hadn't looked at him or spoken to him since they sat down. Rogar wondered if she was mad at him for letting her die.

"No, it's not your fault." Her voice entered his mind. He forgot how the Spirit World worked. She could read his thoughts as if he had spoken them.

"Well for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'm sure Loderr will be back soon with help."

"Yes, I'm sure he will." She didn't really sound sure of that, though.

Suddenly Rogar felt a pulling, as if he was being strung up by his shoulders. A flash of white light blinded him, and then slowly the world started to come back into focus. His whitewashed vision gradually filled with color. Rogar felt a surge of pain as his soul tore from the Spirit World back into his beaten and broken body. He looked up to see Rosefire standing in front of him.

"Hey there." Rosefire greeted him with a smile and gave him a big hug and a kiss.

"Hell, I'll die more often for that!" Rogar joked. He started to laugh but it turned into a coughing fit as pain shot through his head. He whispered a small prayer under his breath, but his mana was too drained from the resurrection. He dropped to the ground exhausted and in pain.

"No problem. Drink this." Kryme handed him some water and then said a prayer of his own. Rogar felt his body rejuvenate and all his wounds disappeared. The water was quickly restoring his mana as well.

Shiner walked up to the paladin and shot him a concerned look. "Did you get a look at where the Horde jumped you from? We don't see any sign of them, but we're assuming they're still hiding around here somewhere."

Rogar surveyed his surroundings. The group was standing in the middle of town, right in front of the inn where the battle had taken place. "We can't stay here! We have to clear out before they come back!" he cried.

"Relax," Shiner tried to calm the paladin down. "We've got numbers on our side this time. And we're ready for them. The Horde doesn't like those kinds of odds. If they are here they will either wait until our guard is down, or they will stay hidden like the dogs they are. They wouldn't dare attack us in this position."

Rogar looked around. Shiner wasn't kidding, they did have some numbers - Shiner, Rosefire, their priest, Kryme. Jaye was there too, but he looked a little green and sick. Loderr was there, and he had revived Ivan and was tending to his bear's wounds. Lien was also sitting on the ground next to Loderr, drinking and trying to restore her mana.

"Well, we better get buffed up and take a look through the town. If there's Horde here we'll find them." Shiner motioned towards the buildings.

"Or they'll find us…" Loderr grumbled under his breath.

They split up into two groups and went from building to building looking for any signs of the Horde. Rogar got a chill down his spine as he walked back through the inn and thought of the innkeeper that the Orcs had left as bait. As they finished their sweep of the town, they met back in the street in front of the inn. "This is crazy." Said Shiner, "Not a single sign of anyone or anything. There aren't even any corpses left from your fight."

"I know," replied Rogar, "this is exactly how it looked before we got ambushed. I'm telling you guys, we would be better off just getting the Hell out of here."

"Well, we need to at least wait for Shauna and the others." Shiner explained. "Rose sent them a message to meet us here. It wouldn't be good if they showed up and we were gone. It's starting to get dark, and we don't want to be out here in the open all night. I say we pick a building and hole up for the night."

"Good idea." replied Rogar. "We can stay in the inn. There's plenty of room for us all, and it's right across from the hippogryph landing area. That way we can keep an eye out for the others."

The party made their way into the inn and laid out their bedrolls for the night. They decided to all stay in the main common hall instead of taking separate rooms. Jaye and Rogar took the first watch of the night as the others got some sleep. Rogar stared at the stars dotting the night sky. Pale moonlight bathed the Elven town, and Rogar thought how beautiful it would look under better circumstances. But all he could think about was the ambush, and the death. He never even noticed the Orcs that were sneaking past Jaye, who had fallen asleep.

* * * * *

Shiner was having her nightmare again. She was home, in Gnomeregan, and her father was just getting back from his shift in the factory. Her mother was making his favorite dinner - roasted boar ribs and moonberry pie. It was a recipe her father had brought back on one of his trips to Ironforge to study at the Great Forge. Shiner couldn't wait until she was old enough to go with her father to Ironforge. She had heard so many wonderful stories about the magnificent Dwarven capitol and the Great Forge. Her father told her many times about the Great Forge.

Unlike most Gnomes who take naturally to engineering, her father had preferred the Dwarven art of blacksmithing. He was known as one of the best blacksmiths in all of Gnomeregan, and was one of the few non-Dwarfs lucky enough to be accepted to study under the artisan blacksmiths in Ironforge. His skills were often used to help make parts for the engineers that kept Gnomeregan up and running. Shiner was very proud of her father.

As he walked in the door of their tiny apartment he scooped his little girl into his arms and gave her a big hug. "How's my little princess today?"

"I'm not a princess, Daddy!" Shiner scolded. "I'm a great warrior! And I've been out in the forest slaying Trolls all day!"

"Oh you have, have you? Well, that sounds like quite a dangerous line of work! I'm glad we have someone as brave as you to watch out for us!"

"Now Shiner," her mother chided, "Let your father relax a minute and go wash up for supper. It's almost ready."

"Yes Mother…" Shiner ran off to do as she was told.

That's when it happened. A large explosion came from the street outside their apartment and they rushed to the door to see what was going on. Her father and mother were standing in the doorway and Shiner couldn't see past them. But she could feel the heat of a very large fire, and she could hear screams. Horrible screams.

"Get back in the apartment!" Her father yelled. "Get back NOW!" He slammed the door shut and threw the steel bar across it. "Hurry! Get in the back room, and don't come out no matter what!" He went to a chest that he kept beside their fireplace and unlocked it with a key from around his neck. He reached in and took out a large sword, almost as tall as the gnome himself. He also started putting on tiny pieces of plate mail armor.

"What on Azeroth do you think you're doing?" Shiner's mother exclaimed. "You're not going out there?"

"I've got to do my duty, woman! They're over-running the city."

"You haven't used that sword in years! You can barely swing it." She pleaded with her husband not to go.

Shiner's father picked up the sword and took a few practice swings. He parried an imaginary foe, and lunged at the air. "Like riding a mechanostrider, My Dear. I'll be fine." Shiner thought she saw a small smile on her father's face and a gleam in his eye as he turned toward the door, but it was quickly replaced by concern and seriousness. "After I go through this door you bar it closed and you open it for no one. You hear me? NO ONE!"

Her mother shook her head in understanding, and threw her arms around her husband. She cried into his shoulder.

"There, there. It'll be all right. You mind our mother now, you hear?" He said to Shiner as he reached for the door.

"Yes Daddy." Shiner replied. Her father opened the door and for a brief moment she got a glimpse of what was going on outside. Fire engulfed the streets, the whole town was burning. Gnomes were running everywhere in a panic, and being chased by Troggs. Others had grabbed weapons, like her father, and were fighting. Shiner had seen Troggs before when she walked the forests with her father, but never this many, and never in Gnomeregan. Her father walked out into the street with his blade drawn, and her mother slammed the door shut behind him.

The slam of the door in her dream woke Shiner up with a start. The tiny Gnome sat up quickly in her bedroll looking for a Trogg to attack, but there were none around. She licked her lips and tasted the salty sweat dripping from her forehead. Looking around, reality began to take hold again. Just as she started to calm down and go back to sleep she saw it. It was very faint, but Shiner knew what she saw. A shadow moved against the back wall of the inn. She bolted up and grabbed her daggers from the side of her bedroll. She slipped into the shadows and disappeared as rogues are so well trained at doing.

She crept over to where Rogar was keeping watch. The Paladin was standing with his sword drawn, but he obviously hadn't seen a thing. He was staring at the sky with a distant look on his face. "Hey. Rogar." Shiner whispered.

The paladin spun around taken by surprise and lifted his sword. Shiner slipped out of the shadows and revealed herself to Rogar. "It's just me." she whispered. "Have you seen anything?"

"Nothing. The night has been eerily quiet."

"What about Jaye?" Shiner asked.

"I haven't heard from him either…" Rogar turned to point to the warrior. "Oh Crap! The lazy bastard's asleep!"

Shiner ran over to Jaye and shook him.

"Uh huh. Yeah, that's good, a little more to the right... Yeah…"

"Wake up you stupid idiot!" Shiner smacked Jaye across the face.

"What!" Jaye shot up with a start and jumped to his feet. He fumbled for the sword hanging on his belt and dropped his shield on the floor with a loud crash.

"Great!" Rogar mumbled under his breath. "Just wake the whole forest why don't you!"

"Well, not the whole forest." Shiner replied. "But at least wake up the others. I have a feeling we're not alone in here." Before they could turn to wake the rest of the party, the room exploded with a burst of magic fire. Rogar and Jaye were thrown off their feet by the blast.

"WAKE UP! AMBUSH!" Shiner screamed as she drew her daggers and looked for something to kill.

With the exception of Shiner, the entire party was caught completely off guard. Shiner immediately began looking for the enemy that appeared to pose the biggest threat. She could see a number of warriors running into the building from the front entrance. That didn't concern her much. She wanted to find the mage that was responsible for the blast. Then she saw it. An Undead dressed in robes was standing at the top of the stairs in the back of the common room. A group of three Trolls, also in robes, stood at the bottom of the stairs surrounded by totems. This was definitely where Shiner was going to start. She called back to Rogar and Jaye, who were picking themselves up off the floor.

"You guys take those Shaman at the bottom of the stairs. I'm going for the Mage!"

Rogar nodded, and he and Jaye ran for the stairs with swords drawn. "I'll go for the Trolls. You start by breaking all those totems." Rogar yelled to Jaye. When they reached the stairs Rogar called out a prayer and stunned the first Troll, interrupting the spell he was casting. The other two Trolls turned to see what had happened, but it was too late. Rogar swung his blade from over his head and buried it deep in the skull of the second Troll. The Shaman slumped to the ground dead before he even knew what hit him. By this time Jaye had crushed all the totems protecting the group of Shaman, and he bashed the third Troll between the shoulder blades with his shield. The Troll dropped to his knees from the force of the blow, stunned.

Shiner saw her opportunity and slipped past the fight at the bottom of the stairs and snuck to the top where the Mage was already casting his next spell. Shiner had to act fast before he got that next spell off. She used her stealth to slip behind the Mage and plunged her daggers deep into his back. The blow stunned the Undead and interrupted the spell he was about to cast. Shiner drew her daggers back again and sank them into the Mage a second time, carving him up like a Winterfeast ham.

The rest of the adventurers weren't having such good luck with their attackers. Still groggy from sleep, it was all they could do to defend themselves from the fierce blows of the Orc's swords. Rosefire whispered a prayer and placed a holy shield around Lien, protecting her from any attack. "Get ready," she cried to Lien, "when that shield wears off you can cast a spell."

Lien nodded and closed her eyes, preparing herself for the sword blows that would inevitably try to interrupt her casting. She could feel the Paladin's shield fading, and she began reciting the words to her spell. One of the Orcs noticed that the Mage was vulnerable again, and he lunged at Lien with his sword. But before his blade could strike, Lien cried out the last word of her spell. As she had done in their first fight in the inn, a wave of cold blasted from her body, freezing all the attackers to the floor, stopping them in their tracks.

"Everyone, back off and regroup!" Rosefire called to the others. They headed for the stairs where Rogar and Jaye were still fighting with the Shaman. "Good Morning…" Rose quipped to Rogar.

"Nah, it's still dark out. Go back to sleep for another hour or so."

"No use, once I'm awake I can never fall back asleep again."

The Orcs were free from Lien's frost spell, and rushed the party at the bottom of the stairs. Loderr fired into the crowd of Orcs, dropping one dead in its tracks and stunning another. Ivan roared and charged into the group. He chose one unlucky Orc and sank his massive teeth into its throat. The Orc lunged at the bear with his sword, but it was no use. The animal's jaws clamped down on the orc's neck like a vice. Ivan shook his head back and forth with tremendous force, tearing the flesh and muscle that connected the orc's head to his torso. Blood sprayed in all directions as the bear cut through the vital arteries in the orc's neck. "How many times do I have to tell ya silly Bear. Don't play with yer food!" The Dwarf scolded his pet as he swung his axe at a charging Orc.

The inn filled with the sound of steel on steel and the cries of battle. The adventurers were doing their best to hold off the Horde attackers, despite being outnumbered almost three to one. "My mana's not going to hold out much longer!" Kryme called out to the group. "The paladins better start picking up the slack if you guys want heals!"

"I'm a little busy over here!" Rosefire said. She was parrying the blows of two orcs in front of her, while a third Orc was swinging wildly at her back. The paladin's plate mail armor was absorbing most of the damage, but the force from the blows were throwing off her attacks. "Can someone get this bastard off my back?"

"Sorry Rose, I'm out of mana too." Rogar answered. "I'm drained from trying to kill those damn Shaman."

"We're all out of mana." Lien cried.

Out of nowhere an enormous blast of fire engulfed the inn. The adventurers braced themselves, expecting to be set ablaze by the fire. But instead it was the Orcs who fell to the ground burning. The ones who didn't die instantly ran out of the inn screaming. Almost as quickly as it began, the fight was over. The adventurers stood around exhausted and looked at each other in disbelief.

"I thought you said you were out of mana?" Jaye looked at Lien.

"I am?" She shrugged.

"Did someone ask for fried Orc, extra crispy?"

"Shauna!" Rose squealed in glee. She dropped her sword and ran to the mage, throwing her arms around her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – On to Feathermoon

The reinforcements had shown up just in the nick of time. Shauna, Ulfgar and Sildor heard the noise of the battle as they rode in on the backs of their hippogryphs. They ran to the inn as soon as they landed and saw the melee going on inside. Shauna incanted the words to her spell, filling the room with spell fire.

"What the Hell happened here?" Ulfgar asked. "You guys throw a party and don't even invite me?"

"Just like a Dwarf to show up late!" Rogar smiled as he gave Ulfgar a hearty handshake. "How have you been, my friend?"

"Same as always." The Dwarf grumbled, "The Undead in Stratholme have seen the fury o' this paladin, ya can be sure!"

"I'm sure they have!" Rogar laughed. "I'm sure they have."

"All pleasantries aside," Shiner interrupted, "we need to make a quick patrol around the town and make sure that was the last of the Horde. I don't want any more surprises."

The adventurers, now ten strong, split up into two groups and did another search of the town. Rogar and Shiner filled in the latecomers on the whole story. It was dawn before they completed their sweep of the town. When they were sure the Horde had completely cleared out of Astranaar they started a small cooking fire and sat down to prepare some breakfast.

"Well," Shiner said with a mouthful of food, "when we're done here, the Mages can create a portal for us and we can head back to Darnassus. We can resupply and then grab a hippogryph ride to Feathermoon. Depending how late it is at that point we can decide whether to stay overnight in town, or make our way to the entrance of Dire Maul. Lien, Rogar tells me you had business in Dire Maul as well. You care to elaborate on that?"

"Not really." The Mage replied. "I appreciate all you've done for me. And I'm thankful that we met. But my business is my own, and I'd like to keep it that way. If there's a problem with that I would be more than willing to go my own way."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Rosefire answered. "We can at least stay together until we reach Feathermoon. I've fought beside you, and if I can trust my life to you in battle I can surely trust you as a traveling companion."

"I'll second that." Loderr added. "Besides, Ivan's taken a bit o' a shine to the lass. And I've found no one to be a better judge o' character than that flea-bitten hairball!" Indeed, the bear was lying behind Lien, who was sitting propped up against him. Lien scratched Ivan behind the ear and the bear let out a deep, contented sigh.

"Well, it's settled then." Rose declared. "We'll travel to Feathermoon, and at that point Lien can decide whether she wants to stay with us or continue on her own. But if we're going to help you accomplish whatever it is you've set out to do, it would help if you let us in on it."

"Thank you, Rose." Lien answered. "And if the time is right I will. But right now I'd rather keep things to myself."

The adventurers finished up their breakfast and packed up their gear. When the party was ready Shauna chanted a long spell. A glowing ball of light appeared in front of her, and it started to spread out in a larger and larger arc. As it grew the inside of the sphere began to tear open and inside was a vision of the main hall in the elf city of Darnassus. One by one the adventurers placed their hand in the middle of the sphere and then disappeared. When the last of them had gone through, Shauna touched the sphere herself and Astranaar was once again deserted.

The party made their way to the Tradesman's Terrace of Darnassus. They sold the few random items they recovered from the corpses of the Horde. Not much really, just some cheap weapons and armor. But it was enough to cover the cost of some provisions for their trip to Dire Maul and enough to get their armor and equipment repaired as well. The spell casters stocked up on their reagents, and the rest of the group made their way toward the bank to store away a few items they wouldn't need for the trip.

When they completed their business in Darnassus the adventurers boarded a boat sailing for a small Elven town on the main continent of Kalimdor known as Auberdine. Once they arrived, they made their way to the hippogryphon master and paid for a flight to Feathmoon Stronghold on a small island off the far southwest coast of Kalimdor. The adventurers climbed onto the backs of the animals, and the magnificent beasts spread their massive wings. With a leap the hippogryphons shot into the air, their wings catching a current of ocean air, and they quickly climbed to a dizzying altitude.

Rogar always enjoyed traveling by gryhon. The view was always breathtaking, and it was the only time you could really sit back, relax, and not worry about a thing. On some of the longer trips, like the one to Feathermoon, he'd even fallen asleep from time to time. The soft feathers of the gryphon's back were more comfortable than any bed in any inn Rogar had ever slept. The gryphons knew their routes well, and needed no direction or instruction from their riders. They instinctively flew their paths after years of traveling the routes. And the gryphon masters kept close watch over their animals, only choosing the best and most reliable of the beasts.

As they flew over the town of Astranaar Rogar noticed that some of the villagers had begun coming back to the town. The Sentinels were back, and a few of the merchants had taken up shop again. He wondered if they even knew the sacrifice he and his friends had made to restore their home. The life of an adventurer was a thankless one, to be sure. It seemed at times like everyone you meet had a problem they needed your help to solve. Either they were too busy to collect some items that they need, or there was a particularly troublesome creature that had been terrorizing their town. Or sometimes they just wanted you to deliver a message to someone in another town far away. Whatever the task, you could be sure that as soon as you walked into any town in Azeroth wearing armor and a sword, someone was going to ask you to do something for them.

And really, that's what started all this mess, wasn't it? Rogar and Shiner had just been looking for some place to rest for the night. As they traveled through Feralas they saw the signs for Feathermoon Stronghold and figured it had to be better then laying out the bedrolls and sleeping on the cold earth for another night. As they made their way to the inn a Night Elf named Scholar Runethorn approached them requesting their help.

Runethorn was searching for an Elven master by the name of Kariel Winthalus. Kariel had stolen several artifacts from the Elven homelands and Runethorn and her order had pursued him all across Azeroth. Their hunt for Winthalus had finally ended in Feralas, where they believe him to be hiding in Dire Maul. The perils of Dire Maul proved to be too great for the Scholar, but she was sure that brave adventurers such as Shiner and Rogar would have no problem with the Ogres and other assorted creatures that have inhabited the fallen city. Scholar Runethorn requested that Shiner and Rogar travel to Dire Maul and recover the artifacts from Winthalus. Of course they would be compensated, and have her undying gratitude. Wasn't that always the case?

Of course Shiner and Rogar knew they couldn't handle such a task alone, so they split up and traveled to the far reaches of Azeroth to assemble their guild mates for the task. The plan was to meet back in Darnassus, head to Dire Maul, retrieve the Scholar's artifacts, and collect the reward. But things never go according to plan, do they?

Rogar thought about all that had transpired between that first meeting with Scholar Runethorn and now as he sat atop his gryphon flying over the Tauren lands of Mulgore. Was this really all worth it? Who really cared about a bunch of old Elven artifacts anyway? They were probably just some crusty, old stone tablets, or some musty, old books. Why did he continually stick his neck out and risk life and limb for these strangers who sent him on impossible missions? "Because you're a Paladin." the voice in his head reminded him. "You swore an oath to protect those who cannot fight for themselves and to uphold the light."

But he didn't feel like a Paladin anymore. He felt more like a mercenary. Sword for hire. Have mace, will travel. He remembered with a small tinge of longing when he first became a Paladin. He was young and idealistic back then; full of naive dreams. How many creatures and people had he killed since then? The numbers were too high to count. How many of those people believed in their cause the way he believed in his? Who's to say they weren't right and he was wrong? The line between good and evil blurred for Rogar with each kill. A part of him longed to burry his sword deep in the earth and never pick up a weapon again. He could find a good woman, settle down somewhere and start a family. Maybe he could even put his blacksmithing skills to use for something other than making armor and weapons of death. He fell asleep on the back of the gryphon, dreaming of a better life.

* * * * *

Lien held a small pack in her lap as she flew on the back of the gryphon. She wondered if any of her new companions had noticed it yet. She wondered if they were suspicious of how she never let the pack out of her sight; how she slept with it beneath her head each night. She was fairly sure they hadn't noticed, but paranoia was something she had grown accustomed to at this point. Of course she wouldn't have used that word to describe it. She was just being cautious, she told herself. After all, you don't go waving an item like this around in the Ironforge auction house. Items such as this one draw attention of the wrong kind.

She was anxious now to complete her quest. She was close, and she could feel it. Years of collecting and searching were near an end. She wondered for a moment what she would do when it was over. This had been her goal for so long now, it motivated every decision and action that she made. A casual observer would easily label it an obsession. But again, that was not a word Lien was comfortable using. Words like "obsession" and "paranoia" are reserved for people with issues. Not her.

Call it a Quest, call it an Obsession, call it whatever you like, but Lien had thought of nothing else since the day the Libram fell into her hands. It seemed like such a simple book. Bound in weathered, brown leather with very plain markings on the outside. She opened the book to the middle and thumbed threw a few pages, expecting to find a story or some lore about the Elves that used to inhabit Dire Maul. Instead she found runes. Magical runes, most of which she had never seen before. Occasionally she could decipher a word here or there, but never enough to actually read or learn any of the spells within the book.

This aggravated Lien more than she would admit. She had studied the magical arts for almost her entire lifetime. Ever since she was a little girl in Stormwind, she would follow her father around like his shadow, learning anything she could from him. By the age of ten she was reading his spell books and scrolls. By fifteen she was already a fixture within the Mage Quarter, and many of the Arch Mages already knew of her. By eighteen she had completed her apprenticeship and was given her Mage robes.

Unlike her father, who used his magic for study and learning, Lien left the safety of Stormwind's walls to explore Azeroth and become an adventurer. She occasionally returned to Stormwind to visit her father and share her incredible stories with him. Tales of great creatures and epic battles with the Horde. She would bring him magical items from far away places for him to study and examine. But much to her dismay, her father never seemed to be as impressed with her accomplishments as she had hoped. He felt she was putting herself at unnecessary risk, and that she should "grow up" and settle down in Stormwind. He often encouraged his daughter to stay in the Mage Quarter and study with him. Surely she had the talent to become an Arch Mage herself one day. But Lien couldn't stand the thought of staying in one place for the rest of her life. How boring would it be to wake up day after day in the same town, doing the same thing? She knew that wasn't the life for her. She enjoyed the adventure. And the danger. It was something her father could never understand, and would never accept.

But the Libram would change all that, she had thought to herself. Reading its strange runes and unknown text, Lien knew her father would be excited to see it. With his help they could translate it together, and perhaps learn long lost magics that no Mage in Stormwind had ever seen. She traveled non-stop from Dire Maul to Stormwind, so anxious to show her father this incredible find.

Her father, however, did not share her enthusiasm for the Libram. "Where did you get this?" he questioned his daughter.

"I found it in Dire Maul."

"Dire Maul? Where is that?" He slowly turned the pages of the book, studying the runes that Lien could not decipher.

"It's a ruined city on Kalimdor. It's in the forests of Feralas."

"A ruined city in Feralas? You don't mean Eldre'Thalas?"

"Eldre'Thalas? What is that?"

"It's an ancient Elven city, destroyed many, many generations ago. You found this book there?" The concern in his voice was growing quickly and Lien began to get an uneasy feeling.

"Yes." She replied sheepishly. She felt like she was ten years old again, having to explain to her father why she had used the last of his reagents to practice her spells.

"We must destroy this at once! How could you do this? How could you be so careless? How could you bring this to me?" Her father turned and cast the book into the fireplace behind him.

"No Father, NO!" Lien screamed as she ran to the fireplace to try to save the book. Her father moved between her and the fireplace to stop her, but he didn't need to. Lien froze in disbelief, staring into the flames of the fire. Her father saw the look on her face, and turned to look at what had mesmerized his daughter.

The flames of the fire had turned a sickly green color, and purple smoke was billowing up the chimney. Images of the strange runes written within the book danced in the flames spinning and twirling around the book. An unnatural heat poured off the fire, and Lien could swear she heard voices speaking in an ancient language she didn't understand. It sounded a bit like the language of the Night Elves, but she could speak that, and she did not understand a word of what these voices were saying. And there, in the middle of the intense heat and flame of the fire sat the book, completely unharmed.

Lien's father quickly grabbed a small shovel from beside the fireplace and scooped the book from the flames. He flung the book across the room and it skidded to a stop, purple smoke smoldering from its cover. They looked back at the fireplace. The fire was back to normal. It was barely a few small, orange flames flickering lightly over a couple small pieces of wood.

"Get that book out of my house. Get it out of Stormwind. Put it back where you found it and never speak of this to anyone. Do you hear me? Get rid of it, NOW!"

Lien nervously picked up the book, as if it was still on fire, and placed it in her pack. She held back tears as she ran from her father's study. She left Stormwind for the journey back to Dire Maul to follow her father's instructions. She found some adventurers to help her travel back into the depths of the ruined city, fully intending to rid herself of this strange book. But on the way back to where she found the book they encountered a Night Elf by the name of Lydros.

"What have you got there, young lady?" He pointed to the pack Lien was carrying the book in.

"Nothing." Lien answered uneasily, wondering how he could possibly know the contents of her pack, which she had not opened.

"I beg to differ. I believe you have something. Something of great importance. But you don't know how important, do you? You can't even read it, can you?"

"How do you know these things?"

The Elf let out a small laugh. "Silly girl. You mess with forces you can't even begin to imagine. Do you believe yourself to be powerful? There is more power on one page of that book than there is in your entire body."

"Can you read the book? Can you teach me that power?"

"I can. And I might. But first you must do something for me. Before I can use the magics contained within that book I will need some reagents…"

And so it was, that Lien went from being a powerful Mage to an errand girl for Lydros. She had spent the last three years scouring Azeroth for the list of components he asked for. And now as she rode this gryphon to Feathermoon her journey was nearing its end. Would Lydros even still be in the depths of Dire Maul. Lien was sure he was. She could feel him there. He spoke to her in her dreams, reminding her of the power he would unlock for her. Her father would see. She hadn't made a mistake finding the book. He would see.

* * * * *

The gryphons spread their wings into the wind and slowed as they descended on the Elven outpost of Feathermoon Stronghold. The adventurers climbed off the backs of their mounts, and stretched their stiff and tired legs. It was a long journey from Auberdine, and a long time to spend on the back of an animal with no relief.

Shiner instructed the group to follow as they went to find Scholar Runethorn. She was right where Shiner and Rogar remembered first meeting her. "I see you have returned." the scholar greeted them. "You have the artifacts with you, Yes?"

"No, not yet." Shiner answered. "You didn't think we were going to Dire Maul with just the two of us, did you? These are our guild mates," Shiner motioned at the rest of the party, "and they are going to help us recover these artifacts for you. But we don't work for free. We're not a charity. Will you offer them they same reward that you offered Rogar and me?"

"Indeed…" The Elf surveyed the party in front of her. "It seems you have come prepared for a battle, have you not? Yes, I will compensate you all for your efforts. Though I must say, I would have thought you a bit braver than this. You've assembled enough might to storm the gates of the Undercity!"

"You can never be too careful. Besides, we have other business in Dire Maul aside from your task. It's settled then. You can rest assured that you'll be holding your artifacts in no time."

"Yes. Well I look forward to that day. Good Luck to you, and may Elune bless you all." The adventurers left the Scholar and made their way toward the inn. There was still daylight, but the sun was going down quickly, and the forests of Feralas were no place to travel after dark if it could be avoided. The party all agreed that the best option was to enjoy the comforts of an inn for one more evening. It may be quite a while before they would again. They retired to their rooms to unload their gear and then met down in the common hall to share dinner.

The group ate and laughed as they shared stories of their adventures over the past months since they had all gathered together. The ale flowed, and the more they drank, the more elaborate their tales became. Loderr of course shared his story of how he saved Rogar from certain death at the hands of an Undead rogue in the Barrens. Rogar knew the dwarf wasn't going to let him live that down! Ulfgar entertained them all with his stories of the waves of undead and demons he encountered in his many journeys into the now tormented town of Stratholme. Shauna and Rosefire had been on adventures of their own. Along with Shiner they had been taking frequent trips into the depths of Blackrock Mountain to investigate claims of a dragonkin plot to attack the humans of Stormwind.

Rogar noticed Lien sitting quietly, listening to their stories. She slowly drank the same mug of ale the entire night, and smiled politely at the jokes and stories. He felt a bit sorry for her, the outsider, in this group of close friends. He understood how it was to feel like you didn't belong. "You know," he said leaning toward her, "our guild is always looking for new members. A Mage with your talents would be a welcome addition to the Strike Fighters."

"Thank you." She said sincerely. "I really appreciate the offer. But I've never been much for keeping company. I'm a bit of a loner, I'm afraid."

"That's got to be difficult. But I imagine you're not used to this rough lifestyle we lead. You're obviously more at home in the confines of the Stormwind Mage Quarter than sharing ale with a couple of smelly Dwarfs!"

"Hey!" Loderr pointed a fat, stubby finger at Rogar, "I heard that, ya pompous pile o' plate mail armor. I'd show ya who's the smelly one any day o' the week! You and yer fancy prayers are no match fer my shotgun an' my axe!"

"I'd be more afraid of Ivan than I would you! You're so drunk you couldn't fall out of a boat and hit water!" The table erupted in laughter and the Dwarf turned a bright shade of red in anger and embarrassment.

"Baahh! We'll see who's the wiser when we get ta Dire Maul!"

When the laughter subsided and Loderr had been calmed down, Lien resumed her conversation with Rogar. "So, what gives you that impression?" she asked him.

"What impression?" Rogar asked as he took a swig of ale from his mug.

"That I'm a bookworm. That I spend all my time in study in the Mage Quarter. You don't think I've seen my share of combat?"

"Well, no, I didn't… I mean, it's just that… well what I meant was…" Rogar stumbled over himself, obviously sorry that he had offended the Mage.

"It's okay," Lien smiled. "I was just curious. I'm not upset."

Rogar sighed, and took another drink of his ale. "I just meant that you seem to be a pretty powerful mage. But even the toughest of mages that I've met usually stick with a group. I've never really met one that adventured much by themselves. Even Shauna over there won't go too many places without Rosefire by her side." Rogar motioned to the two of them sitting together at the other end of the table. "I guess I just figured that if you travel alone you don't do a whole lot of it and that you probably spend a lot of time back in Stormwind."

"That's a lot to deduce about a person in such a short time. You sound like you've put a lot of thought into that."

"Me? No. I just… Oh Hell." The Paladin downed the rest of his drink and got up from the table. "I'm tired. I'm turning in for the night."

"HA!" Loderr cried from the other side of the table. "The mighty Paladin can't hold his ale! It makes him sleepy!" The Dwarf fell out of his chair in laughter, and the others joined in. "Another round for the Real MEN!" The Dwarf shouted from the floor as he picked himself up, and the adventurers raised their mugs and cheered in agreement. Ivan quickly lapped up the ale the Dwarf had spilled on the floor.

Lien sat there wondering if perhaps she shouldn't have pushed Rogar's buttons like that. She had a knack for that, a trait she picked up from her father. "Don't worry about him." Rosefire said, sitting down next to her, almost reading her mind. "He'll be fine. He just gets a little moody sometimes. He likes to play the part of the Brooding Paladin."

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing really. I mean, he's lived a pretty tough life, but no more so than any of us, really. We're all outcasts in one way or another, aren't we?" Rose glanced at the motley crew assembled at the table. "I mean, no one in their right mind chooses this kind of life. It just sort of chooses you. All the killing and the danger. Living town to town, sleeping in jungles and swamps and dungeons. It always looks glamorous to the townspeople who live their calm quiet lives. But most people who try it either die on their first quest, or give up and go home. It's definitely not for everyone."

"So why do you do it?"

"Me? Ha! I'm a Paladin. I'm Upholding the Light!" The sarcasm dripped off Rose's words and splashed on the table.

"Seriously."

"Seriously? I guess for Shauna. We started when we were kids just playing around in the woods. She would test her spells on the wolves and boars and I was always there to back her up when things got too hairy. Most of the girls our age were chasing boys, we were beating them up. Of course our parents didn't really approve of what we were doing. So when we got old enough we just left, and we've been together ever since. Luckily we hooked up with Shiner pretty early on and we decided to form the guild. The rest, as they say, is History!"

"That's quite a story." Lien took a small sip from her ale.

"Ya, it is, isn't it. How about you, what's your story?"

A little taken back, Lien paused for a moment. She instinctively reached for the Libram hidden in the folds of her robe. "That is long story for another evening. It is I who is tired now. I think I will retire for the evening." Lien politely excused herself and headed upstairs to her room.

"That one's trouble." Rosefire leaned over and whispered to Ulfgar.

"Aye," the Dwarf grumbled. "I think she's more trouble to Rogar than any of us. I've not seen him like this 'afore she showed up."

"I don't know, Ulf. There's been something wrong with Rogar for a while now. I don't know what it is, but something about the Mage has gotten under his skin."

"Hmmm. We'll have to keep our eye on both of them I think."

The celebration continued into the wee hours of the morning. One by one more of the adventurers took their leave and returned to their rooms. Loderr passed out on the table and slept in a pool of ale.

* * * * *

The priest slowly crept down the stairs of the inn to the main hall where only hours before they had all laughed and shared ale. It was still dark, but it would be dawn very soon. He made his way around the overturned tables and chairs from the party, and headed for the front door of the inn. As he reached the threshold he heard a low growling noise and turned to see Ivan staring him right in the face. Loderr has standing beside the bear with rifle in hand.

"Out for an early mornin' stroll, are ye?"

"Yeah, something like that." Kryme replied.

"With all yer gear slung on yer back?"

"Never can be too prepared." The priest let out an uneasy chuckle.

"Aye." The Dwarf cocked the hammer back on his rifle.

"Look, Loderr," Kryme stammered, "This is a suicide mission. You know it, I know it, and everyone sleeping upstairs knows it. If they all want to die, that's fine. But not me! Remember the last time we went to Dire Maul? It did not end well. There are things in there that can kill you. Permanently. Once your soul's gone that's it. No priest or paladin is going to be rezzing you out of that one. I'm sorry man, but I didn't sign up for that."

"An' how well do ya think we'll be fairing without a Priest, eh?"

"I'm doing you a favor! Without me maybe those fools will come to their senses and call off this ridiculous quest. Let someone else stick their neck out for that crazy Night Elf. Personally, I'm not dying over a bunch of lost artifacts. I mean, how do we even know that this Scholar Runethorn even has any claim to them. For all we know, we're stealing them from the rightful owner for her. We could be doing her dirty work."

Loderr paused for a moment and lowered his rifle. Ivan looked up at him with a puzzled look on his face.

"See," Kryme noticed the Dwarf's reaction as well. "You know I'm right. You're starting to doubt this too. Loderr, you've just been following Rose and Shiner too long, like the rest of us. They're going to get us all killed one of these days."

"Go on, git outta here." Loderr waved his arm at the priest. "Go 'afore I sober up and change my mind. Why I don't put a load o' buckshot in yer backside, I'll ne'r know, you miserable piece o' Murloc dung! We might all be killed, but I'll not desert my friends when they need me. I'll die fighting, right next to 'em."

The priest wasted no time running out of the inn. He headed straight for the hippogryph master, loaded up his gear and flew off. Loderr watched him go as the sun began to rise over the ocean. Finally the priest and his hippogryph disappeared on the horizon, and Loderr walked back into the inn. He sat down at the table and poured himself another ale.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Gates of Dire Maul

One by one the adventurers rose from their rooms, gathered their gear, and met downstairs in the common room. The innkeeper had cleaned up the mess from the party and laid out some bread, fruit and cheeses for them. A few of them ate while the others tried to shake off the cobwebs from the night before. Loderr was already on his third mug of ale.

"Nothin' takes the edge off the next morn' like a bit o' the hair o' the dog that bit ye!" The Dwarf proclaimed as he downed the last of his ale and ordered another.

It wasn't long before Kryme's absence was noted. "Hey, has anyone seen Kryme this morning?" Rosefire asked.

"Aye." Loderr mumbled from behind his mug. "You can be forgettin' about that one. He lit out at dawn."

"Lit out?" Shiner asked, "What do you mean, lit out?"

"He took off. Turned tail and ran, like the dog that he is. Not an ounce of honor in that worthless hide o' his. He went on 'bout suicide missions and lost souls. To Hell with him I say. We're better off without him."

"I don't know about that." Shiner sighed. "This might not be the easiest quest we've ever done. But without a priest it's damn near impossible. I suppose we do have three paladins… that might be enough."

"What about Gabby?" Jaye asked. "We could send word for her."

"No," Ulfgar answered. "Gabby was with me in the Eastern Plaguelands. She was fightin' the Undead Scourge. It'd take her days, maybe weeks, just to get the message and meet us here."

"We can't wait that long." Rosefire groaned. "What the Hell are we going to do now? Damn, Kryme!"

A Night Elf sitting at a table on the other side of the inn rose from his seat and approached the party. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing your predicament. I'm curious, are you the adventurers who Scholar Runethorn has enlisted to help her."

"Who would be askin'?" Loderr shot the Elf a suspicious glance.

"I'm sorry. My name is Selth, and I am a priest. I journeyed here from Darnassus to meet with Scholar Runethorn and she informed me that she had found a group of adventurers who agreed to recover the stolen artifacts for her. You fit the description of the group she mentioned - minus your priest, of course. It would seem that I might be of some service to you?"

"If yer offerin' to go with us to Dire Maul, then we're acceptin'!" Loderr exclaimed.

"Not so fast." Shiner interrupted. "This seems a little odd. We just happen to lose our priest, and you just happen to be sitting here in the inn when we need a new one? Excuse me for not being a little suspicious about this coincidence."

"It is completely your decision, and I can respect that." Selth replied. "If you have no need for me I will be on my way back to Darnassus. Good day and safe travels to you all. May Elune Bless you."

"Now hold on a second." Rogar got up and stopped Selth. "I'm sure we can look past the unusual circumstances surrounding our meeting." He shot Shiner a concerned look. "After all, you guys know what happens when you rely on me to do the healing. Maybe Rose and Ulfgar want that responsibility, but personally, I vote for the Elf here."

"Your confidence in me is very reassuring." Selth shot the paladin a sarcastic glance.

"I think Rogar's got a point, Shiner." Rosefire looked at the Gnome. "Things can get pretty rough in Dire Maul. I know I'd feel a lot better with a priest watching our backs."

"Alright, alright already." Shiner mumbled under her breath. "I guess we don't really have much of a choice at this point. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful for your offer, Selth. You understand?"

"Indeed. I'm only glad that I was here for you. The Scholar's quest is a most important one, and it would be my honor to assist you in undertaking this task."

The adventurers paid the innkeeper for their breakfast and made their way to the docks to catch the ferry that would take them from Feathermoon Stronghold to the main shore of Feralas. The Elves had built the stronghold on a small island not far off the coast. On a clear day you could almost see the mainland on the horizon. It wasn't so far as to be an inconvenience, but it was far enough to offer an added bit of protection from the wilds of the forest.

Feralas itself was a harsh place. It was a mountainous region with deep lush forests; a stark contrast to the barren wastes of the plains of Desolace to the north and the desert canyons, known as Thousand Needles, to the south. The Elves once called this forest their home, but that was many generations in the past. Now the Elven cities lie in ruins, overrun by the beasts and the forest. A bloodthirsty tribe of Ogres, known as the Gordok, had taken up residence in the crumbling buildings of the forgotten Elf city. Scholars and historians knew the city by the name Lien's father used, Eldre'Thalas. But adventurers had grown to call it Dire Maul, the name given to it by its present inhabitants.

The threat of the Ogres hadn't done much to keep the treasure seekers away from the ruins. Quite the opposite, it seemed to draw more and more adventurers to the site. Archeologists often took excursions into the ruins in hopes of recovering some of the lost lore and artifacts of the once great Elven city. Others only went in search of gold and gems. Either way, few ever lived to tell the stories of what they found inside, and those who did would rarely speak of it. An evil much worse than the Ogres now lived there, haunting the ruins.

The group made their way across a rickety rope bridge spanning a deep gorge. The path got narrower as they climbed higher into the mountains. The slope dropped dangerously off the sides of the trail, threatening to send anyone who strayed from the path into the depths of the forest below. The adventurers walked single file, taking their time and watching their step. Finally the path widened again, and they could see their destination ahead. Small broken obelisks littered the side of the trail, once used as markings to guide travelers to the Elven city. Fallen columns and shattered walls greeted them as they made their way toward what was once the main gate of the city.

"I sense we are not alone." Sildor whispered, kneeling down to inspect the ground. The hunter gently ran his fingers over the earth and cocked an ear to the wind. Sildor's pet, a magnificent white Frostsaber from the mountains of Winterspring, drew closer to him instinctively guarding his master. "Ogres have patrolled this path recently. We should be wary."

"Ok, you heard him." Shiner drew her blades from her side. "Let's get ready for a fight folks. This is where the fun starts."

"There! Up ahead." Jaye was the first to see them. Two Ogres lumbered back and forth across the road leading into the main entrance of the city.

Shiner took quick note of them. One was two-headed, meaning he was probably a spell caster. It took two heads, which meant two brains, for an ogre to have enough intelligence to actually cast a spell. The other Ogre had only one head, meaning he was probably a warrior. Ogres weren't much for learning the fighting styles of rogues or hunters. They used their brute strength and massive size to their advantage. Now and then you might encounter an Ogre who had learned the shamanistic ways of the lesser races, and who could cast healing spells and curses. But for the most part, a fight with an Ogre rarely had a true winner. Even if you managed to kill one, you were probably going to be worse for the wear.

"Jaye I want you and Ulfgar to charge the warrior on the right. Selth, you back them up and keep them healed. I'll stealth my way behind him and try to catch him off guard. Rose, you and Rogar take the two-headed one on the left. Use your prayers to keep him stunned. Don't let him get his spells off. The rest of you, hang back and do your thing from behind. Any questions?"

The party nodded. The plan was simple and they were well aware of their part in a battle. Shiner disappeared into the shadows of the forest, and slowly crept behind the warrior undetected. As soon as she was in place, Jaye drew his sword. "Ok fellas, let's do this!" Jaye charged at the warrior.

Shiner's plan was well conceived, and the party took the Ogres completely by surprise. The paladins kept the mage stunned, and the flurry of their attacks disrupted all attempts by the Ogre to cast a spell. Jaye and Ulfgar shielded themselves from the massive blows of the warrior's mace, and took stabs at him in between his attacks. Selth chanted small prayers of healing to keep Jaye and Ulfgar standing.

Too short to reach the Ogre's back, Shiner concentrated on slicing the tendons in the Ogre's legs, rendering him unable to flee from the fight and weakening his stance. The hunters sent their pets into the fray, and the bear and the frostsaber let loose on the Ogres in a fury of claws and teeth. Lien and Shauna stood back and fired magical blasts of fire and ice. Despite the enormous size and strength of the Ogres, they were terribly outnumbered and fell quickly to the deadly attack.

"Nice work, everyone!" Shiner praised as she wiped the blood from her daggers. "If we keep fighting like that we might be back to Feathermoon by nightfall!"

"Aye, and more ALE!" shouted Loderr, happily.

"I wouldn't count on it." Lien replied. "Those were just a couple sentries. Their numbers increase as we get further into the city."

"Somehow I knew it wasn't going to be that easy." Jaye said, cleaning his weapons off as well. The party searched the Ogres for anything of value and moved on into the main entrance of the city.

* * * * *

Buckalter closed his spell book and slipped it back into his pack. He rose to his feet and called for his minion to follow. The voidwalker quickly followed behind his master. The two of them made their way across the small town of Astranaar to the inn. Buckalter stood in the doorway for a long moment and surveyed the common room. He could sense his brother had been here. He approached the innkeeper.

"Have you seen a paladin traveling through here recently? He may have been accompanied by a number of people. Possibly a Dwarven hunter with a bear, or a female gnome with big, green ponytails?"

"No I'm sorry, I've not seen anyone that matches that description, sir." The innkeeper answered. "I've seen many paladins come through here. But none with any companions, and definitely none matching the description of the Dwarf and the Gnome. Truth be told, I've only been the innkeeper here a short while. The Horde overran the town, and I just took over for the previous owner. Very tragic really."

The innkeeper went on about the gruesome death of the townsfolk and the rebuilding after the Horde attacks, but Buckalter had already stopped listening. He was searching the inn for any sign of the paladin.

"You know, you might check in Auberdine or Darnassus. If they came through here after the Horde attack they probably would have moved on to one of those places." the innkeeper suggested.

Buckalter paid enough attention to the innkeeper's ramblings to pick up this last bit of advice. The innkeeper was right, those would be the next most logical places to look. He made his way to the hippogryph master and got a ride to Darkshore. When he landed in Auberdine, he made his way from the landing platform into the inn. As he was talking to the innkeeper about who had been through town recently, a robed man approached him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're looking for Rogar and the other Strike Fighters, eh?"

"Yes. I am. And I'm guessing you would know where I can find them?"

"I know where they were when I left them. I'm more curious though why it is you want to find them, and how much it is worth to you."

"Indeed." Buckalter reached out his hand as if to greet the robed man, but instead a ray of green energy arched from his fingertips into the man's chest. The robed man shook violently, and as Buckalter raised his arm the man lifted from the ground. His face drew gaunt and pale. Buckalter seemed to be getting stronger as he sucked the life from this man and absorbed it into his own body. "Now it would seem I have something that you want. Shall we make a trade?"

The robed man, now very near death, used the last of his strength to nod in agreement. Buckalter closed his fist and the energy stopped, dropping the man to floor of the inn. The man whispered a small prayer under his breath and some of his life began to pour back into his body. "I'll tell you what you want to know." He groaned.

"Where is the paladin? And who does he travel with?"

"They were in Feathermoon Stronghold just this morning. There were nine of them, not counting me. Rogar, Shiner, Rosefire, Shauna, Jaye." The man rose to his feet as the strength returned to his body. "Plus Ulfgar, Loderr and Sildor. They had another mage with them too. Some woman named Lien, I think. They were supposed to head to Dire Maul, but without me to heal them I doubt they went. They probably left to find a new healer."

A small grin spread across Buckalter's face at this news. Was it possible? Had his stupid brother really fallen in with the Mage? What luck! He would get his revenge, and recover the Libram all in one trip. This was extremely fortunate. Buckalter turned to go back to the hippogryph master and catch a ride to Feathermoon.

"Hey," the robed man called out from behind him, "you forgot something."

Buckalter turned to see what the man could possibly want from him, and suddenly felt a shock course through his body. The priest hit Buckalter with a blast of holy energy. Stunned for just a moment, Buckalter winced and chanted the words to his own spell. His voidwalker had already run across the inn to attack the priest and defend his master. A ball of shadow, swirling black, green and purple, shot from Buckalter's hands toward the priest. The priest recoiled from the hit and then felt a wave of pure panic wash over him. Uncontrollably, he ran from the inn in fear, with the voidwalker following behind, hitting him. Buckalter created two more balls of shadow and shot those at the priest as well. When the fear faded the priest tried in vein to recite the words to a healing prayer, but the voidwalker continued to beat upon him, interrupting his prayer. Buckalter walked into the street where the priest was standing and shot another arc of energy from his fingertips. It struck the priest in the chest and he slumped to the ground dead. Buckalter opened his hand, and sitting in his palm was a small purple shard.

"I'll be keeping this." Buckalter said as he slipped the shard into the folds of his robe. He turned and walked back to the hippogryph master and flew out of Auberdine for Feathermoon. As he flew away, the innkeeper looked at one of the patrons standing next to his counter. "Warlocks." He spat. "I'm always glad to see them leave."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Arena

The adventurers continued into the ruined city of Dire Maul. Despite the crumbling walls, fallen columns and overgrown paths, it was obvious that this had once been a beautiful elven city. The architecture was very much like the current elven capitol of Darnassus. Stone hallways with elegant carpets led visitors into the main courtyard of the city. Of course the walls of the hallway were now overgrown with the vegetation of the harsh forest, and the carpets were worn and faded from generations of exposure to the elements. The Gordok Ogres had made themselves at home in the ruins of this once proud city.

As they ventured further down the hallways they were careful to avoid as many of the ogre sentries as possible, but it was not easy. The ogres tamed packs of wild dogs to patrol the city. Getting by the slow, dumb ogres was hardly a challenge, but outsmarting the keen senses of the dogs was another problem entirely. The party moved slowly, waiting for the packs of patrolling dogs to move to another area before pressing ahead.

Finally they reached the main courtyard of Dire Maul. It was a huge area with three separate hallways to the north, east and west leading to different sections of the city. In the center of the courtyard was a large arena. The arena had once been the site of great duels - a place for proud warriors and champions. Now, like the rest of the city, it was in shambles. The columns which once lined the outside of the arena were mostly gone, and the ones that remained looked as if they would tumble at any moment. The forest plant life worked its way through the thick stone slabs and grew over everything.

"Any idea which hallway we should take?" Rosefire looked at Shiner.

"Not a clue. Our guy could be anywhere in this city. For all we know he's not even here any more. It's very possible he didn't get along with the locals and decided to find a safer place to hide out!"

"If I remember correctly, the north and west hallways lead to a rather large library." Lien replied. "That may be the best place to start looking."

"Sounds good to me. Let's start to the north and see where that takes us." Shiner led the group around the large courtyard toward the northern hallway. As they approached the edges of the arena they distinctly heard the sound of steel clashing against steel. They also heard the unmistakable grunting of orcs. "Hold up!" Shiner warned the group. "There's someone in the arena. I'm going to take a closer look." She disappeared into the shadows and crept closer to the edge of the arena.

Inside she saw a large group of Horde. She counted seven total, mostly orcs but she did see one tauren and one troll. Two orcs were in the center of the arena fighting, and the rest were standing around them in a circle, cheering the fighters on. She snuck closer to get a better look.

The two orcs appeared to be warriors. The first one was definitely more skilled and a better fighter than the other. He was wielding a large two-handed sword, and he swung it over his head with tremendous force. It was all the second orc could do to get his shield up and block the deadly attacks of his opponent. The sword glanced off the shield and struck the defender on the shoulder of his sword arm. Were it not for the plate mail armor the orc was wearing, he surely would have lost his limb.

With each devastating blow from the more powerful orc, the group of onlookers cheered and pointed, taunting the weaker orc mercilessly. Shiner caught herself feeling a bit sorry for the weaker orc. She began to sneak closer to the fight and into position behind the larger of the two warriors. Shiner kept a careful watch on the rest of the group standing around to make sure she wasn't detected. As the two fighters danced around the floor of the arena, Shiner moved in behind the stronger orc. She waited until the orc positioned himself between her and the group of onlookers so she could slip out of the shadows, backstab the orc, and then slip away – hopefully unseen by the rest of the Horde.

When the positioning was perfect and the opportunity was open Shiner drew her daggers back and plunged them deep into the lower back of the stronger orc. As she was trained to do, Shiner found the gaps in the orc's armor and pierced her blades into his spine, temporarily rendering him paralyzed. As quickly as she had struck, she slipped back into the shadows and backed away from the fighters. She was sure she hadn't been seen, but she prepared to run just in case.

The weaker orc paused a moment, taken back by the turn of events. The flurry of attacks from his opponent had ceased, and the stronger orc just stood there in front of him, shoulders slumped and sword at his side. The weaker orc quickly came to his senses and jabbed his blade into the side of the stunned orc. Blood rushed out of the wound like a river, and the larger orc fell to the ground in a pile, defeated.

The rest of the Horde group stood there in disbelief. The cheering had stopped, and their gaze was fixed not on the victorious orc, but on the corpse of the dead orc lying on the stone floor of the arena. Finally one of them looked up at the winner and cocked his head. He grunted a few words that Shiner could not understand, but she could sense the tone of concern in his voice. The body language of the winning orc quickly went from excitement and pride to fear and denial. The orcs and the troll began shouting and yelling, pointing fingers at one another. The tauren kneeled beside the corpse of the loser and appeared to be trying to revive him.

Shiner watched from the shadows as the scene in front of her unfolded. It was obvious that the smaller orc had not been favored to win, and was pretty much considered a practice dummy for the larger orc. Shiner guessed that the stronger orc might even have been the leader of this band of misfits. The rest of the group seemed genuinely concerned about his demise, and didn't seem happy with the new change in leadership. She couldn't help letting out a small chuckle over the commotion she had caused.

The acute senses of the tauren picked up her small laugh immediately. He stood up and motioned for the rest of the group to be quiet. Then he pointed in the direction of the column that Shiner was hiding behind. Quickly, Shiner turned and ran back out of the arena toward the rest of the group. When she reached the group they were sitting around eating and drinking.

"What in the blazes took ye so long?" Loderr barked as he tossed a piece of smoked meat to Ivan. "Any longer an' I was gonna break open a keg o' ale!"

"Quick, get on your feet and grab your weapons!" Shiner yelled, out of breath. "Horde, incoming!"

"Horde?" Rogar said, fumbling for his sword. "How many?"

"Six by my count. One tauren, one troll, the rest orcs. I think the tauren is a shaman. The rest look like warriors. Maybe a rogue. Probably no hunters, I didn't see any pets. None were wearing robes, so I don't think they have any spell casters."

"That's a hell of a lot of information! Did you introduce yourself and get names as well?" Rosefire asked

"Let's just say I had a little time to look over the group." Shiner sighed.

Suddenly Shauna cried out in pain. An arrow had lodged itself into her shoulder and another glanced off her leg. The adventurers looked up to see the troll firing at them. Rosefire ran to Shauna's side and whispered a prayer. She yanked the arrow out of her shoulder and placed her hand over the wound. The bleeding stopped, and Shauna appeared to regain her strength for a moment.

Sildor and Loderr wasted no time returning fire on the troll. Sildor commanded his frostsaber to attack, and the beast ran for the target. Loderr pulled his gun from his back, loaded the weapon with a thorium slug, and fired at the troll. The bullet struck the troll on the forehead, stunning him temporarily. As Sildor's pet leapt for the troll, a jungle raptor appeared out of nowhere and knocked the large cat to the side. The raptor slashed his long, sharp claws at the frostsaber, and left a blood red gash on the pristine white fur of the cat.

"No pets, eh Shiner? What do ye call that scaly lizard? Go git 'em, Ivan!" The bear let out a roar as he charged in to join the fight between the raptor and the frostsaber. Sildor and Loderr continued firing shots at the troll. As the hunters staged their own private fight, the rest of the Horde charged at the adventurers.

The orcs came running out of the arena, weapons drawn, and rushed at the adventurers. Like the troll, they chose Shauna as their first target, and headed straight for her. But this time Rosefire was ready for them. The paladin stepped in front of the charging orcs and called out a prayer. The orc leading the charge stopped abruptly, stunned. Rose drew her sword and took a wide swing at the next orc, striking him in the side. The blow glanced off his armor, but slowed his attack.

Shauna chanted out a spell, and a fireball exploded from her fingertips, striking one of the orcs. The blast from the fireball ignited the his hair and clothing, turning him into a living torch. The orc ran wildly around the battle, fanning the flames.

"For the love of Uther, Shauna! Can't you use an ice spell or something? These orcs smell bad enough, you have to add burning flesh to the stench?" Rose complained as she blocked an attack with her shield. Shauna just laughed.

Shiner and Jaye advanced on another of the orc attackers. It was the weaker orc that Shiner had helped win the duel. Jaye charged for the orc and dealt a stunning blow. The orc slumped over, just as his opponent had done in the fight, and Jaye continued hacking away at him, trying to deal damage through his heavy armor. Shiner slipped into position behind the orc, and almost felt guilty as she buried her daggers deep into his flesh. Only moments before she had saved this orc from certain death, and now she was dealing that death herself.

Rogar scanned the battle for the tauren Shiner mentioned. He hated fighting shaman, but someone had to do it. "Ulf! You see the tauren anywhere?"

"No, I was thinkin' the same thing! I don't see any totems on the ground either." The dwarf was right, Rogar thought. If there were a shaman there would surely be totems.

That's when Rogar saw it. The Hunter's pets were still deadlocked in a battle of teeth and claws. But Ivan wasn't the only bear in the fight. There was another bear, twice Ivan's size, with horns coming out of its head. "Ulf! Over there!" Rogar pointed to the fighting animals. "It's not a shaman, it's a druid!"

"Well I'll be damned!" The Dwarf growled, and pulled his axe from his side. He took his shield from his back and ran into the fray. The druid was preoccupied with his fight with Sildor's frostsaber, and never saw the dwarf's attack. Ulfgar sunk the axe deep into the druid's flank, opening a large, bloody gash. The druid roared in pain and rolled away just in time to avoid Ulfgar's next swing which would have separated his head from his torso.

Pale smoke surrounded the bear, and suddenly he shape-shifted back into a tauren. He waved his hands over his side, and the wound from Ulfgar's axe began to glow green. The gaping wound shrank to just a small cut, and then disappeared. Ulfgar pressed his attack on the druid. The tauren waved his hands at Ulfgar and thick, brown vines came shooting out of the ground, entangling the dwarf. Now with the upper hand, the tauren cast another spell, calling the forces of nature down on Ulfgar. Spellfire pounded the dwarf and he quickly recited a small prayer and cleansed the unnatural magic from his body. Ulfgar felt the vines weakening, and struggled to break free. He managed to free his axe arm, and began chopping himself loose from the trap. Smoke surrounded the tauren again and when it cleared he was once again a bear. The dwarf and the bear charged at each other and clashed in a fury of steel and fur. Ulfgar swung his axe at the bear, but the druid brushed the attacks aside with his enormous paws. He countered by slashing the Dwarf across the face with his razor sharp claws. Were it not for the helm on Ulfgar's head his face would have been torn wide open. Instead, the force of the massive blow from the bear only stunned him. As the dwarf staggered, the bear lunged forward, pouncing on his enemy and pinning him to the ground. He opened his jaws wide and clamped down on the dwarf's throat, piercing his jugular and spraying blood everywhere.

Ulfgar lie there, feeling the weight of the bear on top of him and the life rushing out of his body. Suddenly the weight was lifted, and the wound on his neck stopped throbbing. The bear roared in pain as a burst of fire ignited his fur. Ulfgar looked up to see Lien casting another spell, shooting bursts of magic from her fingertips at the druid. Selth was by his side. "Be still." The Night Elf told him, "You still are not fully healed." Selth recited another prayer and the Ulfgar felt his strength returning.

Lien called out one final spell and engulfed the bear in a pillar of flame. The druid shifted back to his tauren form and tried in vein to cast a healing spell to combat the damage of the fire. But the blast was more than he could take and he fell to the ground dead.

The courtyard fell quiet and the adventurers looked around, panting heavily from the battle. Sleth helped Ulfgar back to his feet. Despite a couple close calls they all managed to survive the attack.

Suddenly a loud roar came from the direction of the arena. The party rushed to the edge of the arena to see what was coming for them next. In the middle of the arena stood one more orc. It was the leader that Shiner had backstabbed. Before charging to battle the druid had obviously resurrected the fallen warrior, who now stood completely healed in the center of the arena. He pointed a finger at the group of adventurers and growled something then pointed at the ground in front of him.

"I'll handle this." Rogar said, pulling the sword from his back.

The paladin walked slowly toward the center of the arena, never breaking eye contact with the orc. In turn, the orc held his gaze on Rogar as the paladin drew closer. The pair cautiously circled the floor of the arena, studying one another for a sign of weakness or an opportunity for attack. Suddenly the orc heaved his sword over his head and brought it crashing down toward the paladin. Rogar leapt to his side and parried the blow just in time to stop it from splitting his skull in two. The initial clash of steel was deafening as it echoed through the courtyard.

The orc pressed his attack and swung again toward Rogar. His blade glanced off the paladin's plate armor, doing minimal damage. Rogar called out a prayer and blasted the orc with a bolt of holy energy. The warrior reeled from the force of blast, and Rogar suddenly was on the offensive. He swung his sword at the orc's head, slamming it against the warrior's helm, stunning him. Rogar lunged again, but the dazed orc managed to avoid a direct hit. Rogar's sword sunk into the orc's leg and the warrior let out a primal scream of pain.

Despite the wound, the orc maintained his balance and resumed his attack. He swung his sword back and forth, forcing Rogar to backpedal. The battle raged on as the fighters exchanged blows that would kill the average man. Neither of them would concede defeat, and despite multiple wounds they both continued to fight. Rogar called out small prayers of healing in between attacks to regain his strength. It was obvious that what the orc lacked in skill he made up for in brute strength and primal rage. The human was no match for the orc's size and power.

"Use your head." Rogar whispered to himself. His chest heaved and his lungs burned. The orc was physically stronger, and was slowly wearing the paladin down. "That's your advantage. Use your head!" The paladin consciously tried to slow his breathing and regain his composure. But the attack of the orc would not let up. Blow after blow, swing after swing, it was all Rogar could do to parry and dodge. Occasionally he could find an opportunity to make a weak lunge or jab at his attacker, but nothing that would slow the orc down.

"He's getting killed out there." Jaye sighed. "Are we just going to stand here and watch?"

"Aye, we are." Ulfgar said. "Rogar accepted the challenge, and the fight is his. Not ours. He wouldn't ask for his honor to be tarnished by the likes o' us."

"You buying into all that paladin honor crap?" Jaye looked at Rosefire.

"Well…" Rosefire hesitated. "I don't, but Rogar does. Just hang back. Besides, I think you guys are underestimating how pissed off that man can get."

"I've got five on the orc!" Loderr threw a handful of coins on the ground.

"I'll take that action." Shiner tossed her coin purse on the ground as well.

"Are you kidding me?" Jaye cried. "I'll make it ten on the orc!"

Rosefire just sighed and shook her head. Then she called Jaye's bet.

The fight continued and things still were not looking good for the paladin. Blood was pouring from a cut on his forehead and he obviously wasn't swinging his sword with the same power as the orc. Rogar threw his heavy two-handed sword aside and reached to his belt for a lighter, one-handed sword. He drew a large shield from his back and began blocking the attacks of the orc. The orc may have been winning, but his frustration was growing at his inability to finish off this puny human. His swings became wilder, as he tried to get past the defenses of the paladin's shield.

Then Rogar saw his chance. The orc made another huge, swing for the paladin and Rogar charged at the orc with his shield in front of him. He slammed the shield into the orc's chest, knocking the wind out of him. Rogar cast the shield aside and jabbed his sword between the seams of the orc's armor, finding soft flesh. Blood sprayed out of the wound as Rogar withdrew his blade from the orc. Rogar quickly turned and slashed at the sword arm of the orc. In one fast motion the paladin severed the orc's hand from his arm and the warrior's weapon dropped to the ground, his fist still clenching the hilt of the sword. The orc roared in pain and anger and instinctively reached for another weapon on his belt with an arm that had no hand. As the orc fumbled for a weapon, Rogar swung at him again, this time at the neck. The paladin's sword struck deep into the orc's neck, but could not cut completely through the tough sinew and bone. Rogar left his blade lodged in the orc's neck and grabbed the two-handed sword he cast aside earlier. Using every bit of strength left in his body, Rogar swung the sword over his head, bringing it crashing down on the orc's skull. The blade dug deep into the top of the orc's head, stopping right between his eyes. Rogar let go of the sword and the orc slumped to the ground, dead. Completely exhausted, the paladin dropped to his knees and collapsed on the arena floor beside his fallen opponent.

Shiner smirked as she picked up her coin purse and the gold pieces that Loderr had thrown on the ground. The dwarf just grumbled. Shiner handed the rest of the gold to Rosefire. "Selth, would you mind tending to Rogar?" Shiner asked.

"It would be an honor." The night elf replied, and he made his way to the center of the arena to heal the paladin.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – A Dark Awakening

Rogar hid in the branches of the tree, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Sunlight beamed through the canopy of leaves above, and he could hear the noises of the forest life below. Patiently he watched. At first all he heard was a rustling in the bushes, then he saw a shadow. Rogar tensed as he watched the shadow draw closer. As the shadow passed below the branch, Rogar leapt from the tree.

"HA! Gotcha!" he yelled as he hit the ground. The boy in front of him jumped in surprise, and ran back down the path, screaming. Rogar ran after him, growling like a bear. The screams and yells turned to laughter and giggles as the two boys chased each other through the forest and down to the riverbank. Without even removing a piece of clothing, they dove into the water and swam out to the middle of the river, enjoying the cool water on this hot summer day. They laughed some more as they waded back to shore.

"You're such a goof!" Rogar teased the younger boy.

"I'm telling ma!" The younger boy threatened. Of course he wouldn't, and Rogar knew it. They reached the shore and took off their wet shirts and shoes. They laid down in a soft patch of grass beneath a tall shade tree and stared at the clouds above them. After a few minutes the younger boy broke the silence. "How long 'till you leave?" he asked Rogar.

"A few more days."

"You gonna come back?"

"Probably. Not sure when though."

"You know dad's gonna ride my ass while you're gone."

"You'll be fine. Just do your chores when he tells you to, and don't talk back to him. You've only got a few more years then you can leave too."

"Rogar, I don't want to go to the academy." The sadness in the boy's voice was obvious, and Rogar felt sorry for him.

"I know it, Buck. Dad can't boss you around forever. Some day you'll be able to do what you want."

"But you're not." The boy's words cut threw Rogar like a knife. Any other time Rogar might have beat his little brother up for that. But this was different. This was maybe one of the last times the two of them would be together like this, and Rogar didn't want to ruin it with a fight. And besides, deep down inside somewhere Rogar knew that his brother was right.

"It's not that simple for me. I have to follow in my father's footsteps. Just like his father, and his father's father. Every man in our family has served the Light, as long as we can remember. It's not a choice, it's an obligation." Rogar stared into the clouds above.

"I don't even know anything about my real father." Buck said. "Mom won't talk about him. 'Course dad has a lot to do with that."

Buckalter and Rogar were only stepbrothers, but they had grown up as brothers. Rogar's father married Buckalter's mother when the boys were still very young, Rogar was five and Buckalter was only two. Rogar's mother had died in Lordaeron to the plague unleashed by the Scourge. His father, Renvik, took the boy to Stormwind and left him in the care of the orphanage matron. Renvik returned to Lordaeron to serve Uther and Arthas in the defeat of the Scourge. Buckalter's mother, Kaerai, took Rogar in and gave him a home so the boy didn't have to live in the orphanage. Renvik returned to Stormwind from the war and found his son living with Kaerai and Buckalter. A love grew between Renvik and Kaerai and they were married.

Not much was spoken about Buckalter's father. Rogar probably knew more about the man than Buck did, and all he knew were bits and pieces he hadn't been meant to overhear in conversations between Renvik and Kaerai. Rogar knew Buck's father had been a spell caster of some kind, and he knew that the marriage between him and Buck's mom had not ended well. He also knew that Renvik would kill the man on sight if he ever showed his face in Goldshire.

Rogar's father was a paladin, and of course as a paladin, he believed in justice and the Light. He was an honorable man, a veteran of many battles with the Horde and the Scourge. Renvik was as hard on the boys as a general on his troops, but he did it out of love and a true desire for the boys to grow up to be honorable men in service to the Light as paladins. Rogar had always accepted this fate, even if it wasn't what he truly wanted in his heart. There was a deep part of him that longed for revenge on the monsters that killed his mother. But the teachings of the church and the paladins were not rooted in revenge and hatred, but in forgiveness and compassion.

Buckalter had no way of knowing it, but his real father was a warlock. Even Kaerai had not known it at first, but when she discovered the dark magic that her husband was practicing she took their son and fled for Stormwind, hoping she would not be found in the massive populous of the city. So far her plan had worked, managing to avoid any contact with Buckalter's father for over ten years. After she married Renvik she felt much safer, but she still occasionally had nightmares of her former husband.

The boys' clothes were mostly dry, so they put their shirts and shoes back on and headed back to their home. The family had built a small farm on the edge of the Elwynn Forest just outside Goldshire. Renvik kept the boys busy planting crops, chopping firewood, and taking care of the livestock. It was late afternoon, and they still had a few more chores to finish before the sun went down, or their father would not be pleased. They ran to the barn to grab some tools and headed for the fields. Rogar called back to Buck, "Hey, I forgot to grab the harness for the horse. Run back to the barn and get it for me."

"You get it!" Buck shot back at his older brother.

"I'm gonna get started on the firewood. You wanna chop wood while I go back to the barn?"

"No." Buck replied, knowing that a walk to the barn was much easier than chopping wood. He still tried to sound upset about the deal. "Fine, I'll go get the harness."

"That's what I thought." Rogar rolled his eyes and went back to chopping wood.

Buckalter took his time strolling back to the barn. The sooner he returned with the harness, the sooner he would have to help chop wood, so there was no sense in hurrying on such a nice day as this. He pushed open the door to the barn and went to the back wall where they kept all the horse tack hanging. A tall, thin man dressed in dark robes stepped out of one of the horse stalls, startling Buckalter. The boy turned to run, but the man grabbed him by the arm. His grip was cold and strong, despite the frail look of the man. Buck let out a small scream.

"You needn't be alarmed my young friend. I'm not here to hurt you." The man kneeled down to Buck's level, pulled him closer, and loosened his grip but didn't let go completely. "Now, if I let you go, do you promise not to scream again and not to run?"

Buck shook his head yes but didn't look the man in the eyes. He kept his gaze on the door of the barn, fully intending to make a dash for it as soon as the man released him.

"Don't lie to me boy!" The man hissed. "I know your thoughts before you think them. If you run for that door I promise you you'll be dead before you reach it. Do I make myself perfectly clear."

Buckalter nodded again, this time looking at the robed man and meaning it. The man's robe was hooded, and Buck could barely see two dark, cold eyes staring out at him from inside it. The man slowly released Buck and stood back up. He pulled the hood from his head and revealed his face. For a moment, Buck felt as if he was looking in a mirror, but a strange mirror that somehow added many years to your face. The robed man read the expression on the boy's face and let out a small laugh.

"Yes, boy. I am your father."

Buckalter stood dumbfounded. A river of emotions poured through his body, everything from excitement and joy to fear and panic. He stammered for something to say but all that could escape his lips was "How?"

"I know you must be very confused right now. And I can hardly blame you. But I want you to know that I've always been thinking about you. Since the day you were stolen from me, I've done nothing but search for you. Believe it or not I found you many years ago, but the timing was not right. But now, with your brother leaving you will be left alone with your mother and that man." The last two words spat from the warlock's lips like poison. His contempt for Renvik was obvious even to Buck. "Now is your time to leave as well, my son. I will take you with me, and I will show you things you've never dreamed existed."

"But I… my mom? I can't. I have to…" Buck stumbled over his words, not able to speak as quickly as the thoughts poured out of his brain.

"Relax, my son. We aren't leaving right now. Here, take this." His father reached a hand out from under his robe and produced a book. Buck took the book. It felt warm to the touch, and Buck could almost feel it vibrating in his hand. No, it wasn't vibrating. It was breathing! The book pulsed, like the heaving of a person's chest.

"What is that?" Buckalter asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

"It is a spell book, my son. In that book is just a small portion of the secrets I have learned. But it is a good place for you to start. Study it carefully, but never, NEVER read it aloud. And show the book to no one!"

"I won't." Buck said. He held the book in both hands afraid to open the cover for fear that something would come flying at him from the pages.

"When the time is right I will find you again and we will leave. Until then, speak of me to no one. Now hurry. Take the harness back to your brother and finish your chores before he gets suspicious. Run now. Go!" Buckalter tucked the book into the pocket of his overalls, grabbed the harness, and ran back to his brother in the fields.

* * * * *

Renvik stormed into Buck's room and shook the boy awake. Buck scrambled out of bed, still half asleep, and reached for his overalls. Had he overslept and forgotten to do his chores? He was pretty sure he hadn't. He looked outside – it was still dark.

"Where did you get this?" Renvik demanded. He threw the spell book on the floor at Buck's feet. Buck bent over to pick it up, but before he could his stepfather kicked the book away into the corner of the room. "Answer me boy! Where did you get that?"

Buckalter stood speechless in front of his stepfather. He couldn't lie to the man, but he didn't want to tell the truth either. He figured silence was the best course of action in this situation. Especially since he was fairly certain Renvik already knew the answer to his question.

"I'm not gonna ask again!" Renvik's anger was growing and now Kaerai had come into the room to try to calm the situation.

"Ren, relax." She pleaded, trying to get her husband to calm down. "Honey, just tell your father where you got the book."

"He's not my father!" Buck regretted the words before he even finished speaking them. Renvik had been more of a father to Buck than the man responsible for bringing him into this world.

"That's right. He's not." A voice hissed from the other side of the room. Buck suddenly felt cold and numb. Pure panic washed over him as he saw the robed figure move into the doorway of his room.

"You!" Revik growled and he ran at the robed figure. Kaerai cried out as Renvik pushed her aside to get at the frail, robed man. Suddenly Renvik froze in his tracks. A beam of glowing green light shot from the robed man's hand to Renvik's chest. The robed man cackled as the life poured out of Renvik's body and into his. Buckalter watched in horror as Renvik was dying at the hands of his real father. His mother was lying on the floor, crying and pleading with the robed man to stop. She looked up at Buckalter and the expression on her face melted his heart. The sadness and fear was more than he could bear.

Buckalter threw himself at Renvik knocking him away from the beam that was sapping his life. The beam flickered and then latched itself to a new target. Buckalter felt a searing, piercing pain as the glowing beam penetrated his back. His muscles stiffened, and he felt an aching in his bones. His hair went instantly gray, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He dropped to the floor on his knees.

"NO!" The robed man screamed, caught off guard by the boy's actions. He stopped the beam and ran to the boy. "Buckalter, get up!" He pleaded. "We must leave at once. Get up, Son, get up!" Buckalter was alive but limp, and too weak to even stand.

"Get away from him!" Kaerai screamed through her tears. "Leave him alone, you monster! Get out of our house! Get out of our lives!" Then a blade came slicing through the warlock's shoulder. Warm blood flowed from his body and washed over Buckalter and the floor. The robed man looked up to see Renvik holding the hilt of the sword. Renvik's face was pale and drawn from the warlock's spell, but he had enough strength left in him to find a sword from underneath Buckalter's bed and drive it through the robed man's shoulder. The warlock screamed in pain and stood up, wrenching the sword from Renvik's grip. With the blade still sticking through his shoulder, the warlock threw his hands at Renvik and blasted him with a ball of shadow. Renvik reeled from the blast and made one final desperate lunge for the warlock. The robed man shot another beam of energy from his fingertips, and as Renvik died a small purple shard formed in the warlock's hand.

Buckalter managed to pull himself across the floor next to his mother. He lay there with his head in her lap as she sobbed. "I love you, Buck. I love you very much." She repeated over and over through her tears. Buckalter wanted so much to tell her he loved her too, but he didn't have the strength. He was pretty sure he was dying.

The robed man pulled the sword from his shoulder and winced in pain. He took a potion from the folds of his robe and drank it down. As he did the wound on his shoulder began to fade away and then disappeared. He walked over to Buckalter and picked him up. Despite his frail appearance, he was unusually strong. He threw the boy over his shoulder and walked out of the room. Buckalter used his last bit of strength to look up from the warlock's back and see his mother draped over her dead husband. Then he passed out.

* * * * *

The warlocks dismissed their demonic minions and boarded the ship from Booty Bay to Ratchet. "When we reach the Barrens, my son, we will seek out Takar the Seer. He will teach you what you need to know to summon a succubus as your minion. But be warned, the succubus is a deadly and manipulative demon. They are not to be taken lightly."

"Yes father." Buckalter had been studying the ways of the warlock for five years now under the guidance of his father. His studies had gone slowly. If he had been taught at a younger age to read and write the language of magic it would have been much more simple. It was rare for someone Buckalter's age to embark upon the Dark Arts. The secret, underground society of warlocks that existed in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind had refused to take Buckalter as a pupil, saying he was too old to begin the training. But Buckalter's father would not give up on his son, and taught him on his own. Often the two of them would travel to other warlocks throughout Azeroth and seek their help in Buckalter's training.

The pair journeyed across the Great Sea to the continent of Kalimdor. They disembarked from the ship and made their way out of the goblin town of Ratchet to the dry, hot plains of the Barrens. They traveled south, making sure not to stray too close to the areas controlled by the Horde.

"We are being followed."

"How do you know, Father?"

"I can sense it. Someone, or some thing, has been watching us since we boarded the ship in Booty Bay. You should summon your minion, my son." Buckalter pulled a purple shard from the folds of his robe and began to chant strange verses. Suddenly his chanting stopped, and he slumped over.

Buckalter's father turned just in time to see the blade of the sword strike him on the shoulder. He reeled from the blow, and fell to the ground badly wounded. Instinctively, he reached out his hand and shot a ray of energy into the chest of his attacker. The ray struck it's intended target, but seemed to have no effect. The warlock noticed that his attacker was surrounded in a globe of bright light. This was a paladin, and he had a holy shield protecting him.

The paladin raised his hand at the warlock, and a blast of holy energy shot through the warlock's body, dropping him to his knees. The paladin slowly walked up to the warlock and raised his sword above his head. "This is for my father, the man you murdered."

Buckalter recovered from the stun and saw the paladin with his blade poised above his father. "Rogar! No!" He screamed. The paladin turned and looked at Buckalter

"Sorry, Buck." Rogar drove his blade deep into the older warlock's chest.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Splitting Up

The group took a small break while Selth tended to Rogar's wounds. The priest knelt by the paladin's side and called out prayers of healing. Rogar gained enough strength to walk out of the arena under his own power. He sat down on a piece of a crumbled column and tried to regain the rest of his strength and mana.

"We really need to keep moving" Shiner looked nervously around the courtyard. "Another ogre patrol could come by at any minute."

"I'm fine." Rogar stood up slowly, "We can move on." He whispered another prayer and healed the rest of his wounds.

The adventurers gathered up their gear and made their way to the north end of the courtyard. An enormous door stood in front of them, and two smaller normal sized doors were to the left and right of it. They tried to open the smaller doors but they were locked.

"Nobody's home. Anyone have a key?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"I do." Shiner pulled her lock picking tools from her belt and went to work on the smaller door to the right. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. Inside was a small hallway with a shimmering blue portal at the end. Thru the portal they could see what appeared to be another large courtyard.

"Ladies first." Jaye held his hand out, inviting the party to step through the portal. Rosefire walked up and put her hand on the flickering light. Slowly the glow of the portal crawled up her arm and began to wash over her body. The portal swallowed her like a wave and she disappeared. Instantly the portal returned to its previous calm state.

Shauna walked through the portal next, followed by Shiner. Loderr walked up to the portal, but Ivan cowered behind him unsure whether he wanted to touch the strange light. "Come on ye worthless pile of fur!" Loderr yelled back at the animal. "What a sissy! He'll charge a whole gang of ogres, but he shies away from a silly light!" The Dwarf just shook his head and stepped into the portal. His bear reluctantly followed.

"Selth, you next." Rogar motioned for him to enter. The priest approached the portal and placed his hand in. The elf disappeared into the portal the same as the others before him but something different happened this time. After Selth went through, the energy of the portal faded and seemed to burn out. The adventurers couldn't see through the portal anymore into the courtyard beyond.

"What the Hell?" Jaye stuck his hand into the portal but nothing happened. He jumped into it, throwing his whole body through the portal, but he only found himself standing on the other side. "What do we do now?"

"I have no idea." Rogar looked around, at a loss for what to do next.

"Perhaps there is another portal through the other door." Sildor suggested.

"Good thinking." Rogar led the remaining adventurers to the smaller door to the left of the giant door. This door was locked as well. "Great, it's locked. And our Rogue is on the other side of that damn portal. Any ideas?"

"Step aside!" Ulfgar drew his axe from his back and took a huge swing at the door. The massive blade struck the door and bounced off, knocking the dwarf off his feet. The door wasn't even scratched.

"You can forget about that." Lien helped Ulfgar to his feet. "These doors are magically protected. Our only option is too look for another way in."

"She's probably right." Rogar agreed. "Let's check the other sides of the courtyard." The adventurers made their way to the western side of the courtyard, making sure not to cross paths with any of the Ogres or wild dogs patrolling the area. They found the same set of doors on the west side. There was a huge door in the middle, with two locked doors to the left and right of it.

"Let me try something." Lien said as she reached into her robes and pulled out an ivory colored key.

"A key?" Jaye cried. "You've had a key this whole time? When did you plan on sharing that bit of information?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure it's going to work." Lien explained. "I found it the last time I was here with another party, but I've never tried to use it. I can't say for sure what door it belongs to."

The group held their breath as Lien slipped the key into the lock and turned it. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the familiar click of a lock opening. Behind the door they found another portal like the one to the north – this one still appeared to have it's energy.

"Looks like we've found our way in!" said Rogar. "Let's go find the others."

* * * * *

Buckalter watched from the shadows as his brother led the remaining adventurers into the west wing of Dire Maul. It had to be fate that brought them all together at this place and this point in time. Buck knew he would soon taste revenge, and it would be sweet.

It hadn't taken Buck long to extract the information he needed from Scholar Runethorn back in Feathermoon Stronghold. The night elf had been reluctant to share any information regarding the adventurers she hired to complete her quest. But a succubus minion can sometimes be very persuading.

Buck managed to catch up with the group and follow behind as they ventured into the ruins. He watched as they fought with the guards at the entrance. And he watched with some amusement as his brother took a thorough beating at the hands of the orc chieftain. He especially enjoyed the look of confusion on their faces as the portal to the north wing flickered out, leaving half the party stranded outside. Apparently they weren't familiar with the magic that controlled this place. Fortunately for Buck, he was. And he knew exactly where they would eventually find one another – in the Eldre'Thalas library. That was surely where Lien would be taking the Libram - right back to Lydros.

How foolish was this mage? Did she honestly believe that Lydros intended to share the power of the Libram with her? Was she blind? Of course Buck knew Lydros had no such intentions. As soon as Lien turned over the Libram to Lydros, he would kill her. Of that much Buckalter was certain. Of course Rogar and the rest of his noble band of mercenaries would avenge the poor woman's death. And after Lydros finished killing the lot of them Buckalter would be able to overtake the weakened night elf and claim the Libram for himself.

But Buckalter would have to insure that Lydros did not kill Rogar. No, that honor would belong to Buckalter himself. He wanted to see the fear and panic in his brother's eyes as he drained the last essence of his soul from his body.

But for now Buck would watch and wait.

* * * * *

"Where are the others?" Shauna asked.

"I'm not sure. They should have made it through by now." Shiner seemed worried as well. "I'll go back through and look for them." She touched the portal, expecting to be taken back to the main courtyard, but nothing happened. "What's going on?"

"That's not good." Rosefire walked up to the portal and touched it herself, but the outcome was no different. The portal stood motionless. "Well, I guess we can assume that if we can't get out the others can't get in."

"So much for strength in numbers." Shiner grumbled under her breath. She had hoped they would be able to overpower whatever they encountered here with brute strength. But with the loss of half their party they would have to be much more careful. "Well, Lien mentioned a library. Let's see if we can't find that."

The tiny gnome led the party forward toward a large courtyard. Groups of ogres patrolled the perimeter with packs of dogs. A large ramp led down to the middle of a sunken courtyard about twenty feet lower than the perimeter. Old, broken columns lined the edges between the perimeter and the sunken area. To the west of this courtyard were three large arches which seemed to lead to yet another courtyard.

"What was this city?" Loderr wondered out loud. "I can't imagine why anyone would want so much wide open space!"

"The ancient elves used this city for epic battles." Selth explained. "They would summon horrible creatures from other dimensions and fight using spells and magic."

"Bah!" Loderr grumbled. "Give me a fine dwarven axe and a shotgun over all that spell casting mumbo-jumbo any day 'o the week!"

"Quiet!" Shiner whispered as she watched the ogres milling about the area. She noticed an ogre with two dogs patrolling in their direction. "Stand back. I'm going to draw this guy in so we have some room to pass." As the ogre drew closer Shiner pulled three tiny daggers from a pouch on her belt. She waited for the ogre to wander past the group and then threw one of the daggers at him. Spinning end over end the dagger found its mark with deadly accuracy, digging deep into the ogre's leg. The ogre howled in pain and turned to find his attacker. He spotted Shiner standing at the entrance to the courtyard and began to run for her. Shiner quickly threw the other two daggers into the ogre's legs, slowing his charge.

The wild dogs patrolling with the ogre also ran to join the attack. Shauna called out a spell and blasted the dogs with a wave of cold, freezing them in their tracks. She followed up with a deadly fireball, and engulfed the dogs in flame.

The rest of the group joined the fight and overpowered the ogre. Rosefire kept the ogre's attention with jabs and thrusts from her sword while Shauna blasted him with magic. Loderr pelted the ogre with shots from his rifle, and Ivan finished off the charred and wounded dogs.

The group continued around the perimeter of the courtyard, sneaking past whatever ogres they could, and fighting the ones they couldn't. Finally they had cleared enough of a path to make their way to the ramp leading down into the center of the courtyard. As they descended into the inner courtyard they could see it was filled with packs of wild dogs. A large group of four ogres sat around a bonfire, cooking meat and drinking beer. Occasionally a dog would wander up to the ogres, trying to steal a morsel of the meat, only to be swatted away. Patrolling on the opposite side of the sunken area was an unusually large ogre. He was wearing more armor than the other ogres, and Shiner noticed a key ring hanging from his belt.

"That one." Shiner pointed at him. "That's the ogre we've got to take down."

"You sure about that Shiner?" Rose questioned. "I don't even think we need to mess with this stuff down here. We can go back up the ramp and head to the courtyard to the west."

"No, look at the key ring on his belt. Those might come in handy later if we find a door I can't unlock."

"I thought there wasn't a door in Azeroth ye couldn't unlock!" Loderr shot the gnome a sarcastic smile.

"There's not." Shiner smiled back, "As long as I've got the key! We need to clear a path to that guard." The group moved against the wall of the inner courtyard and crept around toward the first pack of dogs. Carefully they killed as many of the dogs as they could until nothing stood between them and the guard.

"Okay," Shiner whispered, "here's the plan. I'll sneak behind him and wait for Loderr's signal. Loderr once I'm in place and everyone's ready you send Ivan after him and fire a couple shots. The rest of you know what to do." The group nodded in agreement.

Shiner slipped into the shadows and began to creep behind the ogre. Loderr squinted to try to keep sight of the tiny gnome. "Damned if she doesn't just disappear into thin air!" the dwarf complained, "Rose, can you see where she is?"

"Yeah, give her a minute, she's not quite in position yet." Rose watched as Shiner darted behind a chunk of stone that had fallen from one of the columns lining the courtyard.

Without warning the ogre turned and stared right in Shiner's direction. Focused on where her next move would be, Shiner didn't even notice that the ogre had spotted her. "Loderr! Quick! Fire!" Rose shouted the one word commands at the dwarf in a panic and rushed toward the Ogre.

"Aww Blazes!" Loderr fumbled to pull back the hammer of his shotgun and fired off two quick blasts from the hip without even aiming. "Go get him, ye worthless pile 'o fur!" he yelled at his bear.

The ogre lifted an enormous club over his head and brought it crashing down toward Shiner. She didn't see the swing coming until it was too late. Shiner attempted to dodge away from the powerful blow, but the club struck her on top of the head with crushing force. Shiner dropped to the ground stunned and near death.

Rose drew her sword as she charged the ogre and swung for his side. Her blow glanced off the ogre's chain mail armor but managed to divert his attention from Shiner for a brief moment. The ogre turned toward Rose and with a sweeping motion slammed his club into the paladin, catching her off balance and throwing her against the wall of the courtyard. Turning back to Shiner the ogre drew back for one final swing that would end the poor gnome. Just as the ogre's weapon came down on Shiner for the killing blow, a halo of light formed around her body absorbing all the damage of the attack.

Confused, the ogre stared at his club wondering how he had managed to miss squashing this annoying little pest. Where was all the blood and guts? He was clearly disappointed.

"Nice save." Shauna glanced at Selth. The priest nodded and began chanting the words to a healing prayer for Shiner. Shauna began casting a spell of her own and unleashed a flurry of magical blasts at the ogre. By now Ivan had reached the ogre and sunk his massive jaws deep into the tough flesh of one of the ogre's legs.

The tide of the fight turned and the party now had the upper hand on its opponent. Rose rejoined the fight and swung again at the ogre, this time landing a blow between the seems of the chain mail armor and burying her blade deep into the ogre's back. He roared in pain as Loderr finished the kill with a well aimed shot between the eyes. The courtyard shook as the gigantic ogre crashed to the ground.

Rose helped Shiner to her feet, her head still swimming from the after effects of Selth's healing spell. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Shiner said.

"Well, somehow that ogre spotted you. You must be losing your touch in your old age!" Rose replied.

"I think this is what ye wanted?" Loderr reached out his hand and held up a key ring covered in blood.

"Thanks." Shiner took the key ring with a look of disgust. She pulled a flask of water from a pouch on her belt and rinsed the blood off the keys. "Well, we should get moving before someone notices our handy work."

"I think I'm gonna take this club." Loderr pried the Ogre's weapon from his dead hand and inspected it closer.

"Ha! You'll barely be able to lift that…" Rose began to tease the dwarf then realized not only was he lifting it, but he was taking practice swings! Granted, they were sloppy practice swings - the dwarf practically took Selth's head off - but Rose was amazed Loderr even had the strength to pick up the weapon. "Let me see that!"

"Here, you can have it." Loderr tossed the club to Rose. "Never was good with those things anyway."

Rose was shocked at how light the enormous club felt in her hand. "This has to have magical properties. This club is light as a feather."

"Here." Selth held out his hand and Rose gave him the weapon. Selth could immediately feel the magic of the weapon. "Indeed, it does contain a magical essence. If no one intends to keep this weapon I can destroy it and salvage the essence used to enchant it."

"Sounds good to me." Shiner said. Selth gabbed the club and began to chant as he slid both hands up and down the weapon. The club began to glow until it was a nothing but an oblong ball of light. With a flash the club disappeared and Selth opened his fist revealing a large yellow shard in his palm.

"The weapon contained quite a bit of magic." He replied. "I can use this to enchant one of your weapons if you like."

"Later." Shiner said. "We need to keep moving."

"Very well." Selth slipped the shard into his pack. The group gathered the rest of their belongings and continued to the west.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – My Son is Dead

Rogar stepped off the boat onto the docks of Theramore. The salty sea air sprayed his face, and the sound of the ocean still rang in his ears. Many times he had traveled the vast sea between the Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor. This was a trip he had hoped against hope he would never have to make.

"Are you alright?" Ulfgar asked him.

"No, not really." Rogar sighed. "But thanks for coming with me."

"It is my honor." The stout dwarf replied. Never before had Ulfgar met a human with more determination and will. Paladins by nature are a devoted and loyal group, but in all his years of teaching at the Academy, Ulfgar had never seen a man like Rogar. Ulfgar had known Rogar's father, Renvik, and as a personal favor to his friend he mentored the young man as he began his training. Ulfgar and Renvik had fought side by side in the battles of Lordaeron against the Scourge armies. Ulfgar held a deep respect for Renvik, and felt honored that the man would ask him to personally watch over his son.

After Rogar completed his training he ventured on his first crusades into the Plaguelands to fight with the Scourge. Ulfgar went with him. Ulfgar's promise to Renvik to watch over Rogar didn't end with the boy's training. And truth be told, Ulfgar felt like Rogar might have a thing or two to teach this old dwarf. Before it was all said and done the student would become the master.

But in reality the student became a friend. Rogar and Ulfgar fought many battles together for many years. At times their paths took them in separate directions, but always the two would find themselves together again, sharing ale and a story about their latest quests. It was on one such occasion that Ulfgar told Rogar about a guild of adventurers he had met.

"They call themselves the Strike Fighters and they are a quite capable bunch."

"A Guild?" Rogar asked the dwarf. "That doesn't seem like your style. Or mine for that matter."

"I know what you're thinking. And normally I would agree. But these people are different. They are united with a common goal. They truly fight together as brothers and sisters. When one is in need they all come to his aid. I've not seen such dedication outside of the Order. And they are led by a paladin. Her name is Rosefire."

"A paladin, huh? Do you know her? Did you train her?"

"I did not. While I meet many of the new students at the academy, I am not charged with them all. She would have been a student around the same time you were and I was pretty involved in tutoring you, if you recall."

Rogar downed the last of his ale and wiped the foam from his moustache. "Aye, you did have a hell of a time pounding some of those lessons in, didn't you?"

"Thorazon's Hammer couldn't crack that thick skull of yours!" the dwarf chuckled. "But I have asked around the Order a bit and I heard good things about this Rosefire. Excellent with a blade. Strong willed. A few of the instructors questioned her dedication to the Light, but then they had the same reservations about you."

"So what would we have to do to join this guild?"

"I've arranged a meeting with Rosefire and her most trusted officer, a gnome they call Shiner."

"A gnome? You've got to be kidding me? You're in league with gnomes now. By Uther I swear you've gone soft in your old age, dwarf!"

Ulfgar shot an annoyed glance at Rogar, "This gnome is as deadly a foe as I've ever fought. You'd be wise to mind your tongue when you meet her, else you might find a dagger in your back."

Rogar rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Ulf, you've never steered me wrong before, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this. But sometimes I wonder if you haven't taken one too many blows to the head my old friend!"

"You shall see, Rogar. You shall see!"

And indeed he did see. It wasn't long before Rogar and Ulfgar had become trusted members of the Strike Fighters. Rogar was surprised how comfortable he felt fighting along side this patchwork band of adventurers as they traveled the far reaches of Azeroth. It was a welcome diversion from the constant fighting in the Plaguelands with the Scourge.

And so it came to pass that the human and the dwarf drew even closer. Theirs became a bond of brotherhood, forged in blood shed defending one another. So it was no surprise that as Rogar made this difficult journey to Theramore that Ulfgar should be at his side.

Theramore was the largest Alliance outpost on the continent of Kalimdor. Following the Battle of Mount Hyjal the Alliance commander, Jaina Proudmoore, led her surviving forces south to the tip of Dustwallow Marsh and they built Theramore. Jaina formed an alliance with the Orc Chieftain, Thrall, to their mutual benefit in order to defeat the Burning Legion at Hyjal. Their alliance remained in place following the battle. That was until Jaina's father, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, sailed his fleet into the port of Theramore. Daelin had managed to escape the wrath of the corrupted prince, Arthas, in Lordaeron and had spent many months at sea searching for a refuge. When he discovered the outpost his daughter founded he took control of it and immediately began making plans to attack the Orcs to the north. Daelin's hatred of the Orcs ran deep, and he could not abide by the alliance his daughter had formed with Thrall. Jaina could not side with her father, and once again joined Thrall in battle – this time against her own father. The Admiral was killed in the battle and the Orcs were victorious. Grateful for her help, Thrall allowed Jaina and her people to return to Theramore.

Rogar's business in Theramore was personal. As an outpost for the Alliance army, the barracks of Theramore became a place where the best surgeons and doctors of the Alliance naturally congregated. The wounds which could not be healed by priests and paladins were tended to by the medics of Theramore. They offered the best non-magical healing known to Azeroth. And it was here that Rogar's step-mother, Kaerai, lay dying.

The two paladins strode up the stone pathway leading from the docks to the barracks. The sound of steel clashing on steel and the grunting of warriors sparring filled the courtyard. The sentries at the gate of the barracks stood aside and saluted at the sight of the paladins. Rogar and Ulfgar made their way to the infirmary at the back of the barracks. A tall man with a bushy brown moustache approached Rogar.

"It's good to see you again, Rogar. Your mother has not been well, and I was afraid she might pass before you got another chance to see her. We're keeping her back here, away from the wounded, where she might be more comfortable."

"Thank you, doctor." Rogar shook the man's hand as he followed him back to the small room where Kaerai was sleeping. A wave of sadness washed over Rogar as he saw the woman lying in this simple bed surrounded by cold, stone walls and a straw covered floor. The doctors had indeed done their best to make the woman comfortable but this was no way for a civilian to spend their last days. This was a triage unit for wounded and dying soldiers. Rogar cursed himself for not having a quiet home on a rolling farm where his step-mother could peacefully live out her life.

He approached the side of her bed and took her hand in his. Her skin was cold to the touch and he felt as if he might crush her fragile bones if he wasn't careful. He pressed his lips to the back of her hand and small tear rolled down his cheek. He whispered the words to a prayer and her body was immersed for just a moment in a faint, yellow glow.

"You know it doesn't work like that." Ulfgar said. "The Light can heal many wounds my friend, but it cannot reverse the sands of time."

"I know." Rogar choked back on his words.

Kaerai stirred in her bed, opened her eyes, and turned to see who was there. Her face instantly lit up at the sight of her visitors. "Rogar." She struggled to speak, her voice almost a whisper. "It's so good to see you. And Ulfgar, still the same after all these years."

"Kaerai. Always a pleaure." The Dwarf removed his helm and bowed deeply at the foot of the woman's bed.

"How are you Mom?" Rogar asked. "Are you in pain? Is there anything I can get you?"

"Bah, don't you worry. The doctors here are very good to me. They see to my needs. You sit and visit with me a moment. You look well. It warms an old woman's heart to know that her son has grown to be an honorable man. Your father would be very proud of you, Rogar."

Of course Kaerai had no idea that her real son, Buckalter, was practicing the dark art of a warlock. Despite the lies, Rogar couldn't bring himself to tell her that Buckalter had followed in the footsteps of his father. After the murder of Rogar's father, Kaerai had begged Rogar to search for his brother. Of course Rogar did eventually find Buckalter – studying to be a warlock under the guidance of his father. Rogar wasted no time exacting revenge for his own father's death. But he returned to Kaerai and told her he had no luck in finding any sign of Buckalter.

As Kaerai had gotten on in years her health degraded to the point that she could no longer care for herself. Rogar arranged for the doctors in Theramore to care for her. Every visit left him with more and more guilt. He told himself he should quit the Strike Fighters, quit adventuring and questing, and get a farm somewhere. He would take his mother home and care for her like she had cared for him when he was a young boy alone in an orphanage. But there was always one more quest or one more adventure to complete and then he would quit. How many times had he lied to himself about that? And now it was too late. This poor woman was too fragile to move from her bed, let alone journey by boat to a quiet farmhouse somewhere in the woods of Elwynn Forest. No, the next time she left this dark, musty room would be when she died.

Rogar sat beside Kaerai's bed and watched the dying woman sleep. He watched her chest heave up and down with each labored breath. He cursed himself for allowing this good woman to die in a cold stone room. He wiped tears from his eyes and tried to picture in his mind's eye the better days they had spent together as a family. All the while his dwarven companion stood stoically in the corner of the room, allowing his friend the time he needed to make his peace. They both realized that barring a miracle this would be the last time they would see Kaerai alive.

As Kaerai drifted in and out of sleep Rogar whispered "I'm sorry". He rose to his feet and turned to the door. Ulfgar followed behind. The two of them left the barracks and made their way back to the docks of Theramore without saying a word.

* * * * *

Kaerai layed in bed and starred at the ceiling. She wondered what would happen if she just stopped thinking about her breathing. For so long now it was a chore just to inhale and exhale – it was the only activity of her existance. She closed her eyes and pictured the fields in front of her farmhouse in Elwynn Forest. She saw her husband carrying firewood from the barn to the house, her boys following behind him laughing and pushing one another. The leaves of the trees were on fire with the colors of autumn – red, orange, yellow and brown. The air was crisp, not yet the bitter cold of winter but past the heat of the summer. It was the picture Kaerai wanted to carry to her grave.

The image was shattered by a voice in her room. "Hello, Mother."

Kaerai's eyes shot open instantly. She used the last of her strength to turn her head to the door. The air in her lungs escaped in a gasp. Standing in her doorway was a tall, thin man dressed in deep purple robes. He wore a hood over his head that shadowed his face, but Kaerai could still see his eyes as they glowed a demonic red in the darkness of the room.

"No… no… no…" the frail woman repeated over and over as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Her head bobbed back and forth in denial of the sight before her.

"It is true, Mother. I am alive. And I am well." He reached for her hand, but she recoiled from his touch with amazing speed. "What do you fear, Mother? Are you not happy to see me?"

"I do not know who this man before me is." Kaerai's voice was barely a whisper.

"Of course you do. It's me, Buckalter. Your son."

"My son is dead." The old woman gasped and closed her eyes. She exhaled a long deep breath, and then she was still.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Through Dire Maul

Rogar surveyed the area on the other side of the portal. There was a huge courtyard in front of them with a very wide walkway surrounding the perimeter. Patrolling the hallway were gigantic elementals – living trees as tall as ten men. The ground shook as the trees lumbered back and forth around the courtyard.

"These look like the guardians in Darnassus." Jaye noted.

"They are very similar." Lien explained. "The same magic that the night elves use to summon their guardians was used ages ago by the elves of this city to summon these guardians."

"So we should be able to pass without any problems?" Jaye asked.

"I highly doubt that." Lien answered. "The elves that summoned these guardians have been dead for many centuries. The guardians have long forgotten who they serve and why. I'm sure all they know now is to kill on sight. This probably explains why the ogres haven't taken over this section of the city."

"Great." Rogar sighed. "Giant living trees with the strength to kill ogres. Tell me again why we came here?"

"I believe you and Shiner offered to help a Night Elf in Feathermoon Village retrieve some stolen artifacts." Sildor reminded.

"Thanks, Sildor." Rogar rolled his eyes. "Any chance we can skirt around these things without being detected?"

"We could always try." Lien shrugged. "Worst that could happen is we get spotted and have to fight them anyway."

"Oh, no. I'm sure it could get much worse than that." Jaye offered. "You haven't known Rogar very long, have you?"

"Alright, enough chatter already." Ulfgar rumbled. "If we're going to do this let's be quick about it. Which way around the courtyard should we go?"

"It looks like there's another hallway on the opposite side of the courtyard." Rogar pointed. "There are only two trees to the right and three to the left, so let's try to sneak around the right." Rogar led the group as they slowly made their way out into the walkway. They stuck close to the walls, moving only when they were sure the giant trees weren't looking, and taking cover behind large sections of broken columns. It was slow going, but they managed to make it almost half way to the other side of the courtyard.

Suddenly, Lien let out a loud scream. "What they Hell was that?" Rogar spun around to see why Lien had gone out of her way to give up their position.

Wrapped around Lien's leg was a long, thorny vine. At the other end of the vine was what looked at first glance to be a large bright red flower. But as Rogar looked closer he realized this wasn't any normal flower. In the center of the brightly colored petals was a maw of gnashing teeth. The evil plant was doing it's best to take a bite out of Lien's calf as she struggled to break free of its grasp.

"Hold still!" Ulfgar cried as he brought his axe down on the vine, separating it from the flower. The plant let out a high pitched screech as green ooze squirted from its severed halves.

Before they could react the party found themselves surrounded by dozens of the tiny, lethal plants. They were easy enough to kill with a single swipe of the sword, but their shear number was beginning to overwhelm the group. Lien focused on the words to a spell, blocking out the distraction of the sharp thorns digging into her legs. She chanted the words and a blast of fire poured off her body igniting the plants.

"Well, that should do the trick." Jaye said as he tried to shake free from the charred vines wrapped around his arms and legs. The ground began to shake, first with small tremors that grew faster and harder. "Do you guys feel that?" Jaye asked.

"It's an elemental! We've been spotted!" Sildor called out. One of the giant trees was charging the group. Sildor shouted a command to his pet and the frostsaber charged at the elemental. The cat leapt through the air, sinking his claws and teeth into the thick bark of the tree's legs and ripping out chunks of wood. The elemental slowed a bit, but shook the cat off and continued to come at the group.

Ulfgar and Rogar moved in front of the others and raised their shields in an attempt to block the initial attack of the elemental. The tree swing a gigantic arm-like limb and brushed the paladins aside like rag dolls. Ulfgar and Rogar flew across the walkway and landed hard against the stone floor. The tree brought down another furious blow, slamming its limb onto the floor and barely missing Jaye as he dodged to avoid the attack. Jaye countered with a huge arcing swing of his sword, burying it deep into the limb of the tree. Sap-like blood flowed from the wound, but the tree showed no evidence of being weakened by the blow.

"It's no use." Jaye cried. "Our weapons won't slow it down at all."

"Let's see how he likes this." Lien fanned her fingers out in front of her and jets of flame shot from her fingertips. The tree let out a long, deep groan as the fire spread across its branches and leaves.

"Don't let up!" Rogar yelled as he ran back to protect Lien from the tree's counter attacks. The elemental tried to swing at Lien, but it was too disoriented from the flames. Lien let loose with another burst of fire, engulfing the tree. It paused a moment, swayed back and forth, and then came crashing to the ground. Waves of heat poured off the now roaring fire of the burning elemental.

"We need to move before this attracts more attention." Rogar suggested. "Lien, any chance you've got a spell that can put out this blaze?"

"Don't bother." Sildor pointed. "There are already more guardians on the way to see what's going on. We need to get out of here now."

The group ran past the giant burning tree and continued around the edge of the courtyard. They still tried to stay as hidden as possible, but their pace was much faster than before. As more of the guardians were distracted by the burning remains of the fallen guardian it became easier for the group to move without being noticed. Finally they reached the opposite side of the courtyard and ducked into the hallway.

* * * * *

Shiner led her group further into the ogre infested ruins of Dire Maul. They continued past the initial courtyard where they defeated the guard captain only to find yet another courtyard full of ogres. Some were laying about eating and drinking while others were patrolling with their packs of dogs. Again the group was careful to move around the edges of the courtyard avoiding conflict as much as possible.

Eventually on the south end of the courtyard they found a narrow hallway – a tight fit for ogres but the perfect size for their group. A locked door blocked their way.

"Time to earn your keep!" Loderr winked at Shiner.

"Gladly." The rogue smiled as she reached into her belt pouch and pulled out the key ring they took off the guard captain earlier.

"Hey!" Loderr protested, "That's cheatin'!"

"A good rogue works smarter – not harder!" Shiner tested a few keys before she found one that fit. The lock spring open with a click. "Let me go through first." Shiner said. "I'll make sure it's clear on the other side."

The gnome drew her daggers, disappeared into the shadows, and slipped past the door. It wasn't long before she returned to the group. "All clear ahead." she announced. "Just more long hallway."

The group followed Shiner through the door and down the hallway. It was a long curving hall gradually sloping down. Unlike most dwarves, Loderr never had an affinity for stonework and masonry but even he could tell the craftsmanship and precision that the ancient elves had built into their city. It was in ruins now but the signs of a once magnificent structure were there.

The party reached the end of the hallway and discovered what they had been looking for. A great room two stories tall opened up before them. Stairs led to a raised walkway around the perimeter of the room overlooking the main floor. Bookcases towered from floor to ceiling on both levels along every wall of the great library of Eldre'Thalas. Unbelievably, the room was still inhabited by night elves deep in study, thirsty for the knowledge and magic buried in the volumes.

"How do they live in this place?" Loderr wondered, looking around at the elves. If it weren't for the occasional blink of an eye or the turn of a page you would almost mistake them for statues.

"The mages among them can summon the food and water they require to survive. I'm sure the ogres have no interest in this portion of the city. It's very likely they can sense the power from within and even fear it enough to avoid it completely." Selth explained as he scanned the books on the case closest to him. He spied a book whose title intrigued him and he reached to remove it from the shelf. Before he could even place his hand on the spine, one of the elves appeared at his side.

"Is there a particular tome you seek?" The strange elf startled Selth, who drew his hand back from the bookcase.

"No." Selth answered. "I was merely curious what is contained within that book."

"Aahhh, curiosity. The ruin of many a civilization."

"But what is study if not the ultimate form of curiosity?" It was a legitimate question, but Sleth mean it as a barb toward the chosen pursuit of the residents of the library. It was received as intended. The elf furled his brow and shot an aggrevated glance at Selth.

"Please, restrict your interaction with the volumes contained within this library. If there is a particular knowledge you seek, one of our archivists can help you."

"Friendly bunch." Rose rolled her eyes as the elf walked away.

"We should look around. See if Rogar and the others have been here." Shiner suggested. "Plus, we just might find Kariel Winthalus hiding among these elves. It makes sense. Protection from the ogres and a vast library full of information. He's probably trying to research the artifacts he stole and find out how to use them, or at least how valuable they are."

"I'm sure he's already quite aware of their value." Selth replied. "Their use, however, is a mystery to even the most learned scholars in Darnassus. I'd be very surprised if a thief like Winthalus could decipher their secrets." The adventurers wandered about the library, trying not to disturb the elves studying there. But they soon discovered it didn't matter. The elves spent so much time in seclusion, buried in their thoughts, that the presence of outsiders went almost completely unnoticed. They had grown used to the intrusions of an occasional group of treasure seekers skilled enough to make it past the ogres and other challenges of the ruined city.

Bored with the whole situation, Loderr decided to find a table and take a load off. He shrugged his pack off his shoulders and pulled out a flask of ale and a slab of meat. Ivan lay at his feet and waited patiently for bits and scraps to hit the floor. When the rest of the group finished looking around the library they joined Loderr at the table.

"Well, no sign of the others." Rose said. "I didn't bother asking any of these elves if they had seen anything. I think Onyxia herself could fly through this place and they wouldn't even flinch." Shiner and Selth returned to the table carrying a tattered sack. "What have you got there, Shiner?" Rose asked.

"That would be the Scholar's artifacts." Shiner replied as she plopped the sack on the table."

"Seriously?" Rose stood up. "You killed Winthalus and took the artifacts back already?"

"When did I say I killed Winthalus?" Shiner asked.

"Well I highly doubt he gave 'em up without a fight!" Loderr laughed.

"Actually, he did." Selth explained. "It would seem that Kariel met his end here in Dire Maul. All we found clutching this sack was a decayed skeleton."

"Eeww." Shauna cringed. "You'd think these elves could at least stop reading long enough to remove the dead bodies!"

"Well thankfully they didn't," Rose noted, "or who knows how we would have found these artifacts. Either way that was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Now all we have to do is find the others and we can get out of this place."

"We should probably stay here a while just in case." Shiner suggested. "Lien mentioned the library earlier so they may try to meet up with us here. If Rogar and the others don't show up after a few hours we can move on and keep looking for them."

"Sounds like a plan." Loderr agreed. "In the mean time, I'm gonna catch some shut eye!" The dwarf lay down on the cold stone floor and propped himself against Ivan. Within seconds he was sound asleep.

"I don't know how he does it." Rose shook her head. "Here we are in a dank, musty old library that hasn't seen the light of day in centuries, and he's sleeping like it's the King's Quarters at the finest inn in Stormwind."

"I'm sure the ale has something to do with that." Selth pointed to the empty flask tipped over on the table. "I've known many dwarves in my day, but none who put away the quantity of ale Loderr does."

"That's Loderr for ya." Shiner shrugged. "We should probably try to follow his lead. This is as good a time as any to get some rest. Rose, you keep watch. Wake me in an hour or so and I'll relieve you."

* * * * *

Lien clutched the book hidden in the folds of her robe. It pulsed stronger and harder now, almost as if it were about to burst. The Libram could sense that it was "home" – or at least closer to the source of its strange power. It felt like a large stone dragging Lien to the bottom of a deep lake drowning her in a pool of darkness. Years of carrying the burden of this book were compounding on her now. After all she had been through to get to this point she felt terrible despair at the thought that she might not make the last few steps of the journey.

"Are you alright?" Rogar asked her, noticing the pale look on her face.

"Fine. I'm Fine." She stammered, barely able to catch her breath.

"You don't look so good. Do you need to stop and rest?"

"No. We should keep moving. We're almost there."

"Almost where?" Rogar put his arm out to try to help Lien, but she recoiled from his touch with surprising speed.

"No! I'm fine!" She barked at him. "I'm fine. Let's just keep moving."

"Hey, no problem." Rogar backed off. "Just trying to help."

"Thank you. I'm sorry. It's just… I'll be much better soon, I promise. We just need to keep moving."

"Are you sure there isn't something you'd like to share with us?" Rogar asked, shooting a glance to the bulge beneath Lien's robe where she clutched the book.

An expression of horror and anger crossed Lien's face at the realization that Rogar had spotted the book. Paranoia overtook her in a wave of emotion. It was a trap. They had helped her come all this way to Dire Maul so they could steal the Libram from her and the components she had spent years gathering. Well they would have to kill her for it, that much was sure. No one was going to get this book from her unless they pried it from her cold dead hands.

"You get away from me or I'll rain fire and ice on you until you beg for mercy." She hissed at Rogar.

After years of traveling the furthest reaches of Azeroth there wasn't much Rogar hadn't seen or fought. It took a lot to unnerve this paladin. But the look in Lien's eyes made his blood run cold. He decided that this wasn't a good time to press the mage for more details.

"As you wish." He bowed slightly and stopped to allow Lien to continue walking past him. He waited until the rest of the party passed and dropped back in line behind Jaye at the end of the group.

"What's up, Boss?" Jaye asked.

"Nothing. I just like the company back here better, is all."

"Ha! Can't say I blame ya! Here." Jaye handed Rogar a flask and the paladin took a quick hit from it. Dwarven Ale. It warmed the insides faster than swallowing a lit torch. Rogar pictured the look on Lien's face and took another long drink.


End file.
